Qualifications
BA (Hons), English, University College London
MPhil, English Studies (Medieval Period)
Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford; DPhil, English, St Edmund Hall, Oxford
Academic background
As well as working at Christ Church, I am also a Stipendiary Lecturer in English (650–1550) at St Peter's College, Oxford. Previously, I was a College Lecturer in English at Pembroke College, Oxford and a Stipendiary Lecturer in English at St Hugh's College, Oxford. I have also taught at Merton, Wadham, and Trinity College.
Undergraduate teaching
At Christ Church, I teach Prelims Paper 2: Early Medieval Literature, 650–1350 and FHS Course I Paper 2: Literature in English, 1350–1550. I also teach various papers for Course II, the medieval strand of the degree, including FHS Course II Paper 1: Literature in English 650–1100 and Paper 2: Medieval English and Related Literatures, 1066–1550.
Research interests
I am interested in the earliest literature that survives in the English language: Old English religious verse composed by monastic poets around 700–850 AD. My research focuses on the theology developed by this poetry, discovering the possible influence of diverse spiritual traditions on the early English Church. I explore how vernacular religious poetry was a dynamic medium for communicating complex and original theology in this early period. My work is interdisciplinary, drawing on medieval languages, literature, history, theology and art.
Featured publications
‘Beowulf: Cultural Encounter and the Beginning of English Literature’, for ‘Cultural Encounters: Books that Have Made a Difference’, by The Future of the Humanities Project, Office of the Vice President for Global Engagement, Georgetown University, Washington D.C. (October 2024)
‘The Action of God and the Answer of Man: The Poetic Origins of English Spirituality’, in The Christian Literary Imagination, ed. by Michael Scott and Michael J. Collins (Delaware: Vernon Press, 2024), pp. 29–38
‘The Vernacular Theology of the Old English Advent Lyrics: Monastic Devotion to Mary’, RES, 75 (2024), 1–16
‘The Might and Mind of the Measurer: Creation and the Environment in Early English Literature’, for ‘A Bent but Beautiful World: Literature, Art, and the Environment’, by The Future of the Humanities Project, Office of the Vice President for Global Engagement, Georgetown University, Washington D.C. (May 2023)
‘The Lady and the Letter: Two Ecclesiastical Analogies in the Old English Soliloquies’, SELIM (Journal of the Spanish Society for Medieval English Language and Literature), 26, (2021), 1–23
‘Three Christological Devotions, Part 1: Wounds’, Introducing Medieval Christianity (July 2020)