phd english literature trinity college dublin

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Comparative Literature (M.Phil.)

Course overview.

Comparative Literature is an interdisciplinary field of study that allows you to explore the relationships between literature, culture, and history. It provides students with the opportunity to compare and contrast different perspectives and to gain a deeper understanding of how literature can shape and reflect the world around us. Comparative Literature can help you develop a critical eye, enabling you to make connections between texts and to think critically about how different works of literature can influence our understanding of the world.

Is This Course For Me?

Comparative Literature at Trinity College Dublin is defined as the study of world literatures through the medium of cultural theory and as a reading of literature in comparison with other disciplines. If you are a traveller between cultures and eager to cross boundaries to expand your horizons, our M.Phil. in Comparative Literature may be for you.

Career Opportunities

Graduates have pursued careers in publishing, editing, project management, cultural outreach, research, as well as academia.

Course Structure

Students on the M.Phil. will enrol in two year-long core modules to be trained in the use of theory, criticism, and various possibilities of comparison ranging from the application of imagology to interdisciplinary approaches. These core modules are complemented by two term-long option modules with more specific literary and cultural content. M.Phil. students are also required to complete a dissertation in order to be recommended for the award.

Students on the Postgraduate Diploma will enrol in two year-long core modules. These core modules are complemented by two term-long option modules with more specific literary and cultural content. No dissertation is required.

Students on the Postgraduate Certificate will enrol in one year-long core module. This core module is complemented by one term-long option module with more specific literary and cultural content.

Course Content

This course is designed to provide an understanding of Comparative Literature as a subject of study and a critical practice.

The core modules — Theory and Methodology, and Moving Between Cultures — provide the theoretical and methodological basis for comparing texts of various genres and artefacts of different media at an advanced level.

Optional modules enable the further development of these competencies and offer opportunities to develop and apply this knowledge and these skills to a range of primary texts from a wide range of languages, cultures, epochs and other contexts.

In the final phase of the course, students complete a dissertation of 15,000-20,000 words. A substantial body of academic work, it offers students the opportunity to explore a subject of their choosing in some detail under the supervision of a subject specialist.

Click here for further information on modules/subjects.

Study Comparative Literature (M.Phil.) at Trinity

This course video is designed to provide an understanding of the Comparative Literature programme at Trinity College Dublin as a subject of study and a critical practice.

Course Details

Number of places, next intake.

September 2024

Course Director

Dr. Peter Arnds

Closing Date

28th June 2024

Admission Requirements

Applicants must hold a minimum 2.1 (upper-second class) Honours Bachelor’s degree from an Irish university or its international equivalent in a relevant subject. Relevant subjects include but are not limited to the following: Languages, Literature, History, Cultural Studies, Comparative Literature, Human Geography, Sociology, Religious Studies, Gender Studies, Textual and Visual Studies, Visual Arts, Art History, Economics, Political Science.

All candidates who are not native English speakers and have not completed a degree through the medium of English are required to prove their proficiency with the language. Trinity prefers IELTS, but will accept alternative tests provided by international organisations, such as TOEFL.

Application and next steps

Applications are normally open from November until June and you may apply at any point. Places are offered to the best applicants on a first-come first-served basis. Places are limited, and for that reason, it is recommended that you apply as early as possible. The deadline for applications is June 30th.

Required Materials

For this course, you will need to submit the following materials to apply:

A) Sample of Academic Writing : As part of your application, you also need to submit a sample of no more than 2,500 words (excluding bibliography) of your best academic writing in English.

When we assess your application, we will pay particular attention to your ability to:

• Build and present a logical, cohesive argument.
• Analyse and evaluate the arguments of others.
• Adhere to the norms of academic writing (referencing, quotation, avoiding plagiarism* and other forms of academic misconduct, and bibliography).
• Use academic English.

We make use of Turnitin and other software to check for plagiarism and other forms of academic misconduct in the samples submitted. An application may be rejected if samples of work submitted are found to include instances of such misconduct.

B) English Language Qualifications: Unless you have completed a degree through the medium of English or are a native speaker, you are required to prove your proficiency with the language. Please upload your certificate as part of your application. We highly encourage you to submit IELTS results that have at least a 6.5 score in each category of proficiency. 

C) Degree Certificate(s): You will need to provide degree certificates (in PDF format) that prove you have completed all of the degrees you mention in your application. If you haven’t yet completed your degree, you can still apply and supply these documents when you have them. If your certificates are not in English, and are not issued by Trinity, please obtain an official translation into English and upload both the translation and the original to the system.

D) Degree Transcripts : You will need to provide official transcripts (in PDF format) showing all of the components you have completed as part of your degree(s). If your transcripts are not in English, and are not issued by Trinity, please obtain an official translation into English and upload both the translation and the original to the system.

E) Two Reference Letters : You will need to provide reference letters from two referees who can provide references written in English, explaining why you would be a strong candidate for the course. It is the responsibility of the applicant to contact their referees and inform them of their intention of applying for this programme. Referees listed by the applicant on Trinity's online application system will automatically receive an electronic reference request, providing them with a Trinity reference template and a link to upload their references.

Course Fees

Click here for a full list of postgraduate fees.

To apply, click on the relevant Apply Link below

• Comparative Literature (P.Grad.Cert) - Part-Time 28/JUN/2024
• Comparative Literature (P.Grad.Dip) - Full-Time 28/JUN/2024
• Comparative Literature (M.Phil.) - Full-Time 28/JUN/2024

PLANNED ESSENTIAL SYSTEM MAINTENANCE

There will be no access to the my.tcd.ie direct online application portal from 17:00 on Friday 9 February until 12.00 on Monday 12 February, 2024 to facilitate an essential upgrade. Further information is available on the IT Services Alerts page using this link .

Get in Touch

Telephone number.

+353 (0)1 896 1501

Dr. Peter Arnds (course director)  [email protected]

[email protected]

www.tcd.ie/langs-lits-cultures/postgraduate/comparative_literature

Register Your Interest

Register your interest in studying at Ireland’s leading university, Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin.

A once in a lifetime opportunity to be introduced to a rich range of literatures and academic traditions by lecturers from around the world. The Master's in Comparative Literature is about so much more than comparing great works; it enables one to truly gauge to what extent national boundaries can be arbitrary, becoming conscious of how much cultures are in constant dialogue with each other. Louise Sampagnay Graduate

Studying Comparative Literature at Trinity was a very meaningful experience for me. The programme is a perfect transition between the undergraduate study that has just been completed and the career that has not yet begun. The program aims to equip students with a solid theoretical and methodological basis, on which they are able to conduct research effectively and efficiently, comparing texts of various genres and cultural products of different media from an interdisciplinary and intercultural perspective. Meanwhile, I also enjoy the process of exploring how cultures differ from one another through analysing primary texts from different languages and epochs, so as to pursue a global vision of literary and cultural study. In addition to the improvement of academic competence, the programme also helps students to get themselves qualified for the employment of future jobs. Indispensable skills such as academic writing, critical analysis and communication will put you in demand within the job market. I believe these transferrable skills will enable me to handle my work more confidently and efficiently in the future. Chenxi Tnag Graduate

I've always gravitated towards the subjects of literature and history, and I love to explore the distinct literary approaches of different cultures. Through Trinity's Comparative Literature program I got to do just that: I had the privilege of meeting many professors who each covered topics through an expert cultural lens, allowing me to view many different viewpoints and ideas on a common subject. Through this style of teaching I was able to further branch out into more regional studies and take a more diverse and interdisciplinary approach to my writing. Olayinka Gbonegun Graduate

Comparative Literature is an interesting course to study. It is comprehensive as we learn not only literature, but also its connection with other subjects. The lecturers and staffs are helpful and inspiring. I’ve had a great time studying Comparative Literature in Trinity College Dublin. Yifan Zhao Graduate

This course enabled me to gain access to the skill of applying cultural theory to world literature, sharpening my critical and analytical skills, doing research and writing essays (forming a hypothesis; structuring an argument and building an essay; referencing outside sources), doing research and presenting a paper (forming a hypothesis; structuring an oral presentation; maintaining and sustaining relations with the listeners; giving an overview of sources). These skills guarantee, in a large sense, the qualification of a researcher in further comparative literature studies. I have realised throughout my learning process the importance of an international and multicultural perspective for the mastery of the multidisciplinary subject. Besides, going abroad offers a brand-new perspective both for the diverse cultures through being submerged in cultures utterly different from my home culture and for the status quo of the rapidly changing world through gaining an insight into a variety of world affairs from different channels. Yimeng Man Graduate

Some of the greatest writers and thinkers have walked the campus of Trinity College Dublin, so studying here was a true honour and a privilege. The Comparative Literature programme not only exceeded my expectations but also proved me to never stop questioning and appreciating cultures and societies the world over, and also to never stop reading great literature! Sophie Morris Graduate

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MA Literature & Culture

Graduate taught (level 9 nfq, credits 90).

The MA in Literature & Culture is our flagship MA programme in English-language literature and culture. Students work with leading international scholars and world-class teachers, who have expertise in a wide range of areas, from the literature of the Middle Ages to the modern and contemporary. The programme provides an intensive combination of taught courses and supervised research, designed to develop students’ skills and confidence as scholars and critics of literature and its contexts. Current courses include seminars in Medieval and Renaissance LIterature, 18th and 19th-Century literature and culture, Contemporary American Poetics, Modernism, World Literature, Social Network Analysis, and Research Methods. 

The supervised dissertation gives you the unique opportunity to work closely on a topic of your choosing with published experts in your field of interest. All students take the core module Research Methods, and can choose other modules in a variety of areas, including British, American and World Literature.   Recent courses have included:

• Chaucer and the Fourteenth Century
• American Modernism at Home
• Re-reading the Renaissance
• American Lyric: Document and Memoir
• Memory Cultures
• Feeling Modern: Thinking and Being in 18th and 19th-Century Britain
• Social Network Analysis and Fiction
• World-Systems, World-Literature: Mapping the Planet
• Contemporary U.S. Genre Fiction: Intersection, Disruption, Protest
• Concepts of Modernity

Further information on the MA in Literature & Culture is available on the UCD School of English, Drama & Film website: http://www.ucd.ie/englishdramafilm/study/postgraduate/literatureandculture/

Careers & Employability

Our graduates progress to a wide range of interesting careers.  Some of our alumni opt to stay on for doctoral work with a view to career in academia. Most have gone on to work in a wide range of industries, including teaching, journalism, broadcasting, publishing, advertising, the Civil Service, libraries and archives, public relations, creative industries, cultural heritage, arts administration, banking, business and NGO and advocacy work.

Curricular information is subject to change

Who should apply?

Full Time option suitable for:

Domestic(EEA) applicants: Yes International (Non EEA) applicants currently residing outside of the EEA Region. Yes

Part Time option suitable for:

Domestic(EEA) applicants: Yes International (Non EEA) applicants currently residing outside of the EEA Region. No

This programme is of interest to anyone who has a passion for literature and cultural production in English. It will suit those who want to put a ‘capstone’ on their BA work, but also those who are considering a PhD.

Vision and Values Statement

The MA in Literature & Culture provides the opportunity to deepen your knowledge of English-language literature and its contexts. This MA provides an intensive combination of taught course units and supervised research to develop our students' skills and confidence as scholars and critics of literature and its contexts. Our chief aim is to enable our students to develop as scholars, researchers, writers and critics in their chosen specialism, equipped with a range of critical skills and methodologies for understanding and analysing literature and culture across multiple historical, social and intellectual contexts. On this MA students are also encouraged to engage critically with key issues and debates in relation to gender, race, class, sexuality and alterity across diverse historical, cultural and geopolitical contexts. Our programme values informed analysis, rigorous research, and methodological innovation. Our teaching practice encourages engagement with existing knowledge and research combined with an openness to new perspectives and self-reflective, socially and politically engaged critical practice. We foster and model these values in seminars and individual supervisions that prioritise challenging, high level discussion and debate within a mutually supportive and respectful environment.

On this MA, students choose one of our five specialised MA pathways, all drawing on the extensive, internationally recognised expertise of our academic staff: American Literature; Gender, Sexuality & Culture; Medieval Literature & Culture; Modern & Contemporary Literature; and Renaissance Literature & Culture. 

Programme Outcomes

• Articulate knowledge, arguments and ideas clearly and effectively through essays, presentations and proposals
• Be effective independent researchers, who can identify a viable research topic and develop this into a research project
• Demonstrate a developed awareness of historical contexts, theoretical positions and the range of literary and/or cultural production appropriate to their chosen specialization
• Demonstrate an enhanced knowledge of literary and cultural analysis, including methodology, in their chosen disciplines and fields
• Demonstrate mastery of advanced techniques in the use of archival and digital resources
• Demonstrate their facility as readers, thinkers and writers, with advanced skills in detailed textual analysis and close reading
• Make connections across different time periods and cultures, and identify key aesthetic/cultural/social movements in their chosen specialization

What modules can I take?

View All Modules Here

Students on this programme take two core modules, Literary Research Methods’ and the MA Dissertation module, as well as four taught modules from their specialist strand, choosing from a range of core and option modules.

Fees, Funding and Scholarships

Tuition fee information is available on the UCD Fees website . Please note that UCD offers a number of graduate scholarships for full-time, self-funding international students, holding an offer of a place on a UCD graduate degree programme. For further information please see International Scholarships .

Each year the School of English, Drama and Film offers a number of competitive tuition bursaries of 1,000 euro. Applicants with an offer of a place on one of the School's MA programmes are eligible to apply.

Entry Requirements

An honours undergraduate degree in English or in another cognate subject (NFQ Level 8) with a 2.1 classification (Second Class Honours, Grade One) or equivalent* is normally required. A sample of written work of c.3000 words and two academic references are also required. Applicants whose first language is not English must demonstrate English language proficiency of IELTS 7 (no band less than 6.5 in each element), or equivalent.

Students meeting the programme’s academic entry requirements but not the English language requirements, may enter the programme upon successful completion of UCD’s International Pre-Master’s Pathway programmes. Please see the following link for further information: https://www.ucd.ie/alc/programmes/pathways/int%20pmp/ *equivalencies will vary depending on grade scale of award presented but will generally require a grade average of B or a GPA no less than 3.08;

*However, all applicants will be assessed on a case-by-case basis and in certain exceptional cases an award at a lower level or a 2.2 classification may be considered .

These are the minimum entry requirements – additional criteria may be requested for some programmes ​

Testimonial

Leanne Waters MA 2015, PhD 2018

I chose this MA because of the depth and expansiveness of the course. Students engaged with an exciting range of literary material and cultural issues such as globalisation, art and the metropolis, sexuality and the body. Approachable lecturers provided a stimulating and open environment that fostered critical thinking, while small seminar groups meant that we were able to explore the material and ideas exhaustively, as well as make some lasting friendships. The dissertation module and the pre-requisite module on research methods prepared me for the challenging, but very rewarding, world of independent research. The research skills I learned have been essential to my subsequent PhD work, and have significantly improved my aptitude and desirability to employers in a range of work environments.

Facilities and Resources

UCD’s Special Collections enables access to a range of unique book, archival, audio visual and manuscript collections. The Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI) will open in 2019, a UCD/National Library of Ireland partnership. This landmark museum will celebrate the dynamism and diversity of Irish writers, past and present, including UCD alumnus James Joyce. 

How to apply?

The following entry routes are available:

* Courses will remain open until such time as all places have been filled, therefore early application is advised

Open Days and Events

See details of any upcoming events and how to register.

Programme Overview:

Learn more about the MA in Literature & Culture:

Literature and Culture

Ask a Question:

From time to time UCD would like to send you further information that we feel, based on your enquiry, would be of interest to you.

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How the dung queen of Dublin was swept from history

AI to be used by researchers to scour documents for information on women omitted from chronicles written by men about men

F our centuries ago Dublin had an official city “scavenger” who was tasked with running sanitation teams to clear streets of human and animal waste. In return, the scavenger earned tolls from shopkeepers and traders.

It could have worked well, except the contractor decided to cut costs and maximise profits by deploying just two carts rather than six. Dung piled up and the city stank.

This upset everyone save the scavenger, who pocketed enough cash to set herself up as a moneylender. Her name was Catherine Strong.

In 1635, the city fired her, ending an intriguing if inglorious career in public service. And then, like so many women of her era, Strong vanished into history, her entrepreneurship – creditable or otherwise – barely scraping a footnote in Irish chronicles written by men about men.

Trinity College Dublin aims to remedy that with an ambitious research project launched this week that will use artificial intelligence and other digital technologies to uncover women’s experiences in Ireland from 1500 to 1700.

Jane Ohlmeyer, a history professor who is leading the project, titled Voices , said: “Women are largely absent from historical narratives, with the historical record privileging the perspectives of elites and elite men in particular.

“But ordinary women are not absent from the story of early modern Ireland; they are hiding in plain sight in fragments and passing mentions across a multitude of historic records – wills, maps, surveys, records of debt and legal depositions.”

Historians, literary scholars, data analysts and computer scientists would collaborate in a groundbreaking effort to recover marginalised voices and – it is hoped – set an example for other overlooked narratives, such as the experience of women in colonial-era Latin America, said Ohlmeyer. “Our approach is transferable and applicable to other countries.”

The five-year project, funded by a €2.5m (£2.1m) European Research Council grant, will document the roles women played during social and political upheavals that included massacres, sexual violence and extreme trauma.

AI and other tools will harvest names from sources such as legal records, inquisitions, censuses and statute staple records of lending and borrowing, amassing material that will be organised in a “knowledge graph”, an online resource that will be available to researchers and the public for free.

“The documents will talk to each other so we can start to connect people. We’re able to develop these profiles of people that previously were just a name,” said Ohlmeyer.

GPT-4 from OpenAI and the AI-driven text recognition tool Transkribus will help search and summarise material, albeit with human oversight of the technology. “Everything still has to be checked; we don’t trust it,” said Ohlmeyer.

Declan O’Sullivan, a professor at Trinity’s school of computer science, expressed confidence his department could turn the data into knowledge that was easily accessible to the public and researchers.

The 1500-1700 period represented a transition from the medieval to the modern and coincided with the English empire expanding, said Ohlmeyer, the author of Making Empire: Ireland, Imperialism and the Early Modern World .

“From the late 16th century, colonialism really ramps up and gets tremendous momentum, especially in plantations. That’s when we see Ireland becoming English through language, law and socioeconomic infrastructure.”

Civil wars created opportunities for women who, in the absence of men, found themselves becoming breadwinners and running businesses as brewers, moneylenders, tanners and tavern keepers.

Catherine Strong, after being accused of presiding over “foulness of the streets”, appeared as a creditor on the Dublin statute staple.

However, conflicts also wreaked horrors. Depositions taken after a 1641 Catholic uprising showed widespread robbery, assault and rape that was often euphemised as “stripping”, said Ohlmeyer.

In one statement, Amy Manfin, a Protestant settler, said she was forced to stand in the blood of her murdered husband before being stripped and dragged by the hair through thorns. English government forces were just as brutal.

Other documents show women pursuing legal cases. In a battle with a debtor over a contested will, Joan Flynn in 1599 allegedly tricked Dublin’s probate court into granting her power over her late husband’s estate.

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• Four top-50s and 43 world-ranked subjects for UCD in 2024 QS World University Rankings by Subject

Wednesday, 10 April, 2024

Posted 10 April, 2024

University College Dublin leads in Employer Reputation across Irish universities

University College Dublin remains one of the world’s top universities, with four top-50 and 16 top-100 subjects ranked in the latest edition of the (opens in a new window) QS World University Subject Rankings . The four subjects at UCD ranked amongst the best in the world are Library & Information Management (27), English Language & Literature (40), Veterinary Science (42), and Petroleum Engineering (43). The number of UCD subjects in the top 100 increased to 16, up from 13 in 2023, and the University remains Ireland’s most represented in the Rankings, which now includes 43 UCD subjects, seven of which improved their position over last year, and 23 remained unchanged. UCD is ranked in all five broad subject areas, with the QS classification of Arts & Humanities remaining its strongest entry.

Top 50 subject rankings for UCD

• Library & Information Management
• English Language & Literature
• Veterinary Science
• Petroleum Engineering

Top 51 - 100 subject rankings for UCD

• Agriculture & Forestry
• Law Anatomy & Physiology
• Archaeology
• Performing Arts
• Politics & International studies
• Social Policy & Administration
• Sports Related Subjects

The QS Subject Rankings are based on five criteria: Academic Reputation, Employer Reputation, Citations per Paper, H-Index, and International Research Network (IRN) Index.

For Ireland, UCD is the leading institution when it comes to Employer Reputation, with Nursing achieving the country's highest score (84.1) in this metric. The University’s best performances in each of the other areas were as follows: 

• In Academic Reputation, the best performing subject was in English Language & Literature, it scored 80.4.
• In Citations per Paper, Veterinary Science was the subject in which UCD earned its highest score (94.3). 
• In H-Index, Agriculture & Forestry received a score of 86.1.
• And while the IRN index is not used in all subjects, its best performance for UCD was in Computer Science & Information Systems with a score of 82.9.

For the 2024 Subject Rankings, QS analysed reputation and research data of almost 5,000 institutions. From this, 1,561 were ranked across a total of 55 narrow subjects and five broad subject areas.   For its latest edition, 184 programmes at 11 Irish universities were examined.  Of those included in the ranked entries, 29% climb the table and 22% drop down – with 42% remaining stable in their rank or band. “Ireland’s continued improvement in QS’ subject rankings is a testament to its resilience and its position as a high-quality destination for international study,” said QS Senior Vice President Ben Sowter. Globally US universities lead in 32 subjects with Harvard University being the world’s strongest-performing institution, ranking first in 19 disciplines.

By: David Kearns , Digital Journalist / Media Officer, UCD University Relations

To contact the UCD News & Content Team, email: [email protected]

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