Applicants should have an honours Bachelor's degree (at least of upper-second class standard or GPA of 3.3) or equivalent qualification in a relevant subject (such as English, History, Art History, Irish Studies, or Modern Languages).
All applicants to Trinity are required to provide official evidence of proficiency in the English language. Applicants to this course are required to meet
Band B (Standard Entry)
English language requirements. For more details of qualifications that meet Band B, see the English Language Requirements page
The M.Phil. in Irish Writing was established by the influential critics Terence Brown and Nicholas Grene in 1985. It was the first taught master’s programme in the English department at Trinity, and it remains one of our flagship courses. This programme has a long tradition of dynamic, open-minded, and critically rigorous engagement with Irish writing in English and its varied contexts from the sixteenth century to the present day, exploring fiction, poetry, drama, and life-writing, and the varied historic, political, social, and cultural complexities which have inspired, enriched, challenged, and sustained literary production on the island. The teaching faculty on the M.Phil. includes internationally recognised critics and editors of Irish writers including Samuel Beckett, Maria Edgeworth, Oliver Goldsmith, Seamus Heaney, James Joyce, Sheridan Le Fanu, Louis MacNeice, Bram Stoker, Jonathan Swift, Oscar Wilde, and W. B. Yeats. Literary criticism in the School of English takes place amidst a vibrant and longstanding culture of Creative Writing, and our teaching staff also includes some of Ireland’s leading contemporary writers. Is This Course For Me? This is an intellectually demanding, culturally stimulating programme which offers those with a special interest in Irish writing unique opportunities to study and experience it in the heart of Dublin, with a faculty of internationally recognised experts in the field. Our exploration of Irish writing on this M.Phil. is inclusive and interrogative, and it thrives on the many perspectives and experiences our students bring. Most students will have an undergraduate degree in English or literary studies, or a related course in the humanities or arts. All will have a demonstrable curiosity about literature and the circumstances which can inform its production, circulation and reception, and a desire to examine such questions through advanced study of the diverse and rich traditions of Irish writing. Trinity’s campus is in the heart of Dublin, a UNESCO city of literature, and the many benefits of studying literature here are central to the unique experience of this programme. Students have the opportunity to work extensively with primary sources – the Trinity Library alone is home to manuscripts, correspondence, and special collections of or relating to, among others, Oscar Wilde, J.M. Synge, Elizabeth and Susan Yeats’s Cuala Press, Samuel Beckett, John Banville, Tom Murphy, and Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin. A short walk away the National Library of Ireland holds collections of unparalleled importance for scholars of writers including Yeats, Joyce, Seamus Heaney, Brian Friel, and Edna O’Brien. And Dublin’s many cultural institutions and its ever-vibrant literary and cultural scenes are on the doorstep.