Programs and Areas
Old and Middle English Literature Area
With nationally-recognized strength in the study of medieval literature, language, and culture, our department offers students a rich variety of courses as well as many quarterly opportunities to get together with other medievalists for intellectual and social pursuits. We currently have faculty members with interests that range from Old English Studies to the literature and culture of the fifteenth century. Richard Firth Green, a specialist in Ricardian poetry as well as in literature and the law, is currently working with medieval folkloric materials; and is the present director of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies; Leslie Lockett teaches Old English and medieval Latin literature, and she is currently completing a book-length study of the concept of embodiment in early medieval psychology. Christopher A. Jones works in Old English and medieval Latin philology; Lisa J. Kiser, mostly a Chaucerian, is now also working on late medieval conceptions of nature in romance, hagiographical and academic contexts; Ethan Knapp has written about Thomas Hoccleve and the rise of bureaucracy and is now working on allegory and medieval hermeneutics; Karen Winstead specializes in saints' legends, gender issues, and fifteenth-century studies; and Christian Zacher works on medieval travel narratives and representations of sociocultural "others" in the medieval period.In addition to the regularly-scheduled courses and the lectures sponsored by the department and the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, the medieval faculty and graduate students meet periodically for the Medieval Reading Group, a session devoted to discussion of a primary or secondary work in medieval studies. The Works-in-Progress Group meets when faculty members or students would like to share their ongoing research with the group at large. Once a year, there is also a Graduate Workshop with a visiting medievalist. A couple of parties and/or receptions, usually in the spring and the fall, round out the busy academic year.
Ohio State University is eager to support the study of medieval literature and culture, and the Department also benefits from strong library holdings in the field and interdisciplinary ties to other units in the College of Humanities and the College of the Arts. Opportunities for interdisciplinary study abound, with courses in Art History, History, Music, Women's Studies, Greek and Latin, and Comparative Studies forming a part of many of our grad students' programs. Our Ph.D. students work on dissertations in a variety of areas; currently we have dissertations being completed on late medieval conduct literature; medieval conceptions of nationality and nationhood; Middle English debate poetry; Ricardian violence and the law; lay readers and religious writers in the fifteenth-century; Old English hagiography in its sociocultural settings; Lollardy and literature; Old and Middle English monsters; and late medieval literary representations of time--among others. Our community is close-knit and energetic, and we are an important presence in the Department of English.Web Resources
- New Chaucer Society -- The purpose of the New Chaucer Society is to provide a forum for teachers and scholars of Geoffrey Chaucer and his age.
- Voice of the Shuttle:Anglo-Saxon & Medieval -- List of On-line resources dealing the Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Literature
- The Medieval Institute at Western Michigan U -- The Medieval Institute ranks within the top ten of the some 90 institutes, centers, and programs focusing on Medieval Studies in North America.
