Classical Languages & English Literature

Mature Students
All undergraduate courses in Trinity are open to mature applicants. Mature student applicants are not required to satisfy the normal minimum entry requirements and are not required to meet competitive academic entry levels (such as Leaving Certificate points), but are considered in the first instance on the basis of how relevant their life, work and educational experiences are to the course(s) that they wish to pursue. In addition, all applicants should demonstrate an interest in and knowledge of their course choice(s).

In order to apply to Trinity as a mature applicant you must:
› be an EU applicant (see page 218)
› be at least 23 years of age on 1 January 2024
› submit a CAO application form to the Central Applications Office (CAO) by 1 February 2024

Late applications will not be considered from mature students.

CAO applications may be made online at: www.cao.ie

Further information about applying through the CAO as a mature student can be found www.cao.ie/index.php?page=mature

Applicants to all courses may be required to attend an interview. Interviews are usually held between April and May.

Certain courses may also require applicants to meet other assessment criteria. For information on additional assessments for specific courses please refer to the Mature Student Guidelines booklet available from:

Academic Registry, Watts Building, Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin, Dublin 2, T: +353 1 896 4500, E: academic.registry@tcd.ie

The Mature Student Guidelines booklet is also available to download at: www.tcd.ie/maturestudents/apply

Trinity will inform mature applicants of the outcome of their application before the end of May to allow successful applicants the maximum time possible to prepare for the start of the academic year 2024. Official offers to successful applicants are made through the CAO in early July. To secure your place you must return a formal acceptance notice to the CAO by the specified reply date.

An information seminar to prepare all successful mature applicants for starting in Trinity will take place in July 2024. An orientation programme for all successful mature applicants will take place in August 2024.

For further information on studying in Trinity as a mature student please contact the mature student officer, T: +353 1 896 1386, E: mature.student.officer@tcd.ie For more information, visit: www.tcd.ie/maturestudents

Please Refer to: http://www.tcd.ie/study/eu/undergraduate/

https://www.qualifax.ie/resources/student-supports

https://www.qualifax.ie/resources/student-supports

https://www.qualifax.ie/resources/recognition-of-prior-learning

Scholarships, Fees and Funding

Entry 2024

Early online application (discounted): Fee €30 Closing Date: 20 January 2024 at 5pm

Normal online application: Fee €45 Closing Date: 1 February 2024 at 5pm

Late online application - restrictions apply (see page 3 2024 CAO Handbook): Fee: €60 Closing Date: 1 May 2024 at 5pm

Change of Mind - restrictions apply (see page 3 2024 CAO Handbook): Fee: Nil Closing Date: 1 July 2024 at 5pm

Exceptional online late application (see page 34 of the 2024 CAO Handbook): Fee €60 Closing Date: 22 July 2024 at 5pm

Be sure to complete any action well in advance of closing dates. You should avoid making an application close to a closing date. No extensions to closing dates will be allowed and all application fees are non-refundable.

LATE APPLICATIONS
Late Applications are those which are received after 5pm on 1 February 2024. The closing date for late applications is 5pm on 1 May 2024, subject to the restrictions listed on page 3 of the 2024 CAO Handbook. The online facility for late applications opens on the 5 March 2024 at 12:00 noon - a fee of €60 applies.

Exceptional Late Applications (Exception to the timetable)
The exceptional closing date of 22 July at 5pm applies only to applicants who are registered as an undergraduate student on 1 May 2024 in any year in any one of the participating HEIs (subject to the exclusions listed below). In order to avail of the Exceptional Late Application facility you must have entered the HEI through the CAO system. This is an exceptional late closing date and all steps must be completed by 5pm on 22 July. No changes may be made after this date.

If you did not enter your current course through the CAO system, you must first contact the Admissions Office of the HEI to which you wish to apply and they will inform you if you may submit an application direct to the institution.

Exclusions:
You may submit a late application only for entry to courses other than your existing course. If you wish to repeat the year in the same course you must arrange this within your HEI.

Mary Immaculate College Limerick, Marino Institute of Education, Trinity College Dublin, University of Limerick and Maynooth University have special procedures in place in the case of current or previous students who wish to apply for entry to another course in the same HEI. Such applicants must contact their Admissions Office to determine the application procedure. However, if you are a student in another HEI and you wish to apply to any of these five HEIs, you should apply through CAO.

Refer to page 34 of the 2024 CAO Handbook on how to make an Exceptional Late Application.

Restrictions
As a CAO applicant you may experience one or more of the following restrictions based on your course choices, your category of application, or restrictions imposed by the HEIs that you wish to apply to. Please read the section on 'Restrictions' on page 3 of the 2024 CAO Handbook carefully. This section includes information on:

General Restrictions
1. Making a late application
2. Making changes to your course choices

Restricted Courses
3. Applying for a restricted course

Mature Applicants
4. Mature applicants

Supplementary Admissions Routes
5. Applying for DARE and/or HEAR

What is Classical Languages?
The study of Classical Languages is concerned with the language, literature and thought of either Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome. You will choose to study either Greek or Latin. Through the reading of literature in the original language and the examination of key aspects of ancient history, you will develop a thorough knowledge of the classical world and a critical approach to textual and material culture.

Classical Languages: The course for you?
If you are interested in studying the language, the poetic imagination, the depth of thought and the historical value of one of the civilisations that shaped the Western world, you will enjoy this course.

Classical Languages @ Trinity
Greek and Latin have been taught in Trinity since its foundation just over 400 years ago, and Trinity is unique in having professorships in both Greek and Latin. To study Greek and Roman civilisation is to study the roots of western civilisation, the origins of our political and cultural institutions, and to understand how the classical past has profoundly affected ideas and values in the contemporary world. The Department of Classics has a worldrenowned reputation. Its courses are taught by academics at the top of their fields. The course is taught through a mixture of lectures, practical classes and small-group seminars, which encourage lively discussion and the development of independent thinking. It is also possible to study abroad for a semester or a whole year.

Pathways
The pathways available are Major with Minor and Joint Honours. It is also possible to take this subject up as a New Minor Subject from second year.

Study abroad
Trinity has strong links with many Classics departments abroad, including active participation in the Erasmus exchange programme. The Department has valuable Erasmus links with the Universities of Cyprus, Udine (Italy), Geneva, Bordeaux and Koç (Turkey). Students are also able to avail of University-wide exchanges, for example, to North America and Australia. These opportunities allow students the option of spending a year or part of a year abroad.

What is English?
Students have the option of studying either English Studies as a Single Honours or Joint Honours course.

The study of English is concerned with the history and practices of writing in English and encompasses literary works spanning English, Anglo-Irish, American and postcolonial cultures. It aims to develop a thorough knowledge of the history of these literatures while also enabling students to develop a sophisticated critical consciousness and an awareness of critical and cultural theory.

Compared to Joint Honours students, English Studies students cover a longer historical range (including before 1300) and also consider topics such as Popular Literature and the Literature of Childhood. The Joint Honours course covers a broad range of literatures written in the English language, from Chaucer to the present day. The aim of the course is to help students acquire a sense of the development of literatures in English over time and space and a rich array of critical techniques and questions.

English: The course for you?
If you want to study the whole range of developments in English and related literatures, from their earliest beginnings through to contemporary studies in the language, you would enjoy English Studies. The course is also suitable if you enjoy analysing narratives to unearth historical, social, and personal themes that ground work in a time and place.

English at Trinity
Trinity is ranked 22nd in the world for English Language and Literature (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2023). Our commitment to small-group teaching means that you will benefit from close personal staff supervision, so that your writing and discussion skills develop.

Our English courses have been designed to develop independence of critical thought and the articulation of informed discussion, both oral and written. Much of your work will be undertaken independently, and you will have at your disposal the resources of one of the world’s great libraries, with rich resources in the full range of literature in English.

The School of English also co-ordinates many non-syllabus activities, such as lecture series, conferences and symposia with guest lecturers such as Anne Enright, Colm Tóibín, Emma Donoghue, and Richard Ford.

The School actively supports several journals of creative and critical writing by undergraduates. Many of our students are involved in student societies, where they take part in activities such as journalism, debating and theatre. In this way we ensure that your time studying English at Trinity is exciting and intense.

Pathways
The pathways available are Single Honours, Major with Minor and Joint Honours. There may also be an opportunity to take this subject up as a New Minor Subject from second year.

Classical Languages
Your degree and what you’ll study Over the four years you will read texts in a wide variety of genres, including epic, tragedy, comedy, philosophy, oratory and historiography. Whether you are continuing your language studies or taking Greek/Latin as a beginner, you will engage with ancient texts both as literature and as a gateway into the culture and thought of ancient Greece/ Rome. Through the critical study of ancient history, you will acquire a comprehensive and interdisciplinary perspective on classical culture. For all of your language-based courses the groups will be small, stimulating lively discussion, analytic skills, and the development of independent thinking.

First and second years
In first year you will be introduced to the critical study of ancient history, culture and literature. The language-based modules you take depend on whether you have studied Greek/Latin before or are taking it up as a beginner.

› Elementary Greek/Latin – an intensive introduction to the Ancient Greek or Latin language. By the end of the year you will be ready to read original texts and your command of the language will be at the same level as those who have studied it before entering university.

› For non-beginners, you will be introduced to the critical reading of Greek and Latin texts through a close examination and contextualisation of poetry and prose works representative of key aspects of the history of Greek and Latin language and literature. You will expand your vocabulary, gain a deeper understanding of grammar and style, and refine your translation skills as well as your ability to write about ancient literature.

In second year you continue the study of Greek/Latin language, literature and history. You will continue to consolidate your translation and analysis skills and begin to study Greek/Latin authors in depth. Greek texts include Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, the Histories of Herodotus, the tragedies of Euripides and Sophocles and the philosophical prose of Plato. Latin texts include the comedies of Plautus and Terence, Cicero’s famous speech On Behalf of Caelius, Virgil’s Aeneid, the love poems of Catullus.

Modules are taught by lectures and smallgroup seminars. There are six to eight contact hours per week. A combination of endof- semester examination and continuous assessment (such as, essays, unseen translations and other language tests, textual commentaries, seminar presentations), form the assessment.

Third and fourth years
In third and fourth years you will progress to an in-depth study of topics in Greek/Latin literature, history and culture. You will refine your analysis of texts in their literary and cultural context through more specialised skills and methodologies, such as textual criticism, linguistics and literary theories. You will also have the opportunity to develop an independent project on texts not covered in the taught modules.

Greek topics may include Greek lyric poetry, philosophy, history-writing, the novel, and Hellenistic poetry. Latin topics may include Augustan poetry, Senecan tragedy, Didactic poetry, Early Latin, Latin oratory, Informal Latin and Roman satire. In third year, you will study cultural history, while close-reading modules will assist you in improving your fluency and accuracy in interpretation. In fourth year you may also study a special topic in Classical culture and will write a dissertation on a subject of your choice. The dissertation is an opportunity to do research which will allow you to develop independent ideas and acquire critical skills, while investigating in great depth an area that particularly interests you.

English Studies

Your degree and what you’ll study
The English courses are designed so that the first year consists of compulsory modules, taught through a combination of lectures and tutorials. In the second year there are further compulsory modules, but you will also take open modules outside English. In the third and fourth year, students choose between a large number of option modules in English, reflecting the great variety of expertise among the staff.

First and second years
The first and second year provide an introduction to a variety of critical theories, practices and approaches to literature. You will primarily concentrate on selected prescribed texts. Examples of first and second year modules include: Genres, Irish Writing, Imagining the Middle Ages, Shakespeare, Writing Childhoods, Pulp: Introduction to Popular Literature, American Literature, Postcolonial Literature and Imagining the Contemporary.

Third and fourth years
In the third and fourth years, you will choose most of your modules from a wide range of specialist options; in these years, modules are taught at an advanced level in small group seminars. Examples of third and fourth year modules may include: Creative Writing, Ulysses in Context, African and Caribbean Literature, Crime Fiction, Global Shakespeare, Modernism, American Writing, Children’s Literature, Popular Literature, and History of the English Language. All final-year students are expected to complete a Capstone project, which might be a dissertation, a study of material from the Library’s Open Collections, or a portfolio of Creative Writing.

English Studies is also available within the Dual B.A. Programme between Trinity College Dublin and Columbia University. Please note: The Dual B.A. is only open to Single Honours students. Joint Honours students cannot apply to the Dual B.A..

Study abroad
Students in the School of English may apply to study abroad during their third year, either on the Erasmus programme in Europe or on a non-EU exchange in a wide range of countries, including the US, Australia, Canada, Singapore and China. For more information on study abroad destinations and requirements visit: www.tcd.ie/study/study-abroad

English Studies
Assessment is by a combination of submitted essays, journals, dissertation and end-ofsemester examinations. In first and second year the weighting is approximately 66% submitted work and 33% final examinations. In third and fourth year it may vary depending on the modules chosen, although submission of a Capstone project is compulsory for all final year students.

www.histories-humanities.tcd.ie
www.tcd.ie/Classics
Email: ryanw1@tcd.ie
classics@tcd.ie

www.tcd.ie/English
Email: english@tcd.ie

International Applicants