Course summary

This programme enables promising poets to develop the potential of poetry as a tool of inquiry within the humanities. You will produce a volume of poetry as well as a piece of scholarly research of 30-40,000 words. Given its emphasis on poetic practice as research into the possibilities and potential for contemporary poetry, the programme integrates with the aims and objectives of the Centre for Modern Poetry allowing for joint supervision between the two centres. Cross-faculty work on modern poetry with colleagues in Modern Languages and in Comparative Literature is also encouraged. The programme acknowledges the fact that poetry has historically understood itself as an art, consciously informed by research. The School of English has a strong international reputation and global perspective, apparent both in the background of its staff and in the diversity of our teaching and research interests. Our expertise ranges from the medieval to the postmodern, including British, American and Irish literature, postcolonial writing, 18th-century studies, Shakespeare, early modern literature and culture, Victorian studies, modern poetry, critical theory and cultural history. The international standing of the School ensures that we have a lively, confident research culture, sustained by a vibrant, ambitious intellectual community. We also count a number of distinguished creative writers among our staff, and we actively explore crossovers between critical and creative writing in all our areas of teaching and research. The Research Excellence Framework 2021 has produced very strong results for the School of English at Kent. With 100% of its research environment and 100% of its research impact judged to be ‘world leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’. The Times Higher Education has ranked English at Kent in the UK top 20 in its subject league table, out of 92 universities. As scholars and creative practitioners, academic staff in the School of English are national and international leaders in their fields. The expert panel judged 93% of its research overall and just under 90% of its research outputs, as ‘world leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’.