Medieval Lyric Poetry: Material Culture and Reading Practices

Presented by Sr. Annie Killian

How did people in the Middle Ages encounter lyric poetry? The manuscripts and material objects that preserve medieval lyrics provide tantalizing clues as to how these poems reached audiences: they were heard in songs and sermons, recited aloud in prayer, inscribed on rings and painted on walls. This seminar will cover new research into medieval processes of poetic production as well as reading practices, as scholars seek to understand the literary and cultural work that medieval lyrics accomplished. Additionally, we will explore current debates about the lyric genre that impact how we teach students to read poetry from the past.

About Sr. Annie Killian

Sr. Annie Killian, Ph.D., is the Public Humanities Postdoctoral Fellow at the Medieval Institute, University of Notre Dame, and a Dominican Sister of Peace. She holds a B.A. in English Literature from Yale University, an M.Phil in English Studies (Medieval) from the University of Oxford, and a Ph.D. in English from Yale. Her research on poetry, pastoral care, and the manuscript culture of late-medieval England has appeared in Studies in the Age of Chaucer and The Yearbook of Langland Studies. She has taught college writing and literature at Ohio Dominican University, Connecticut College, Yale University, and the Wesleyan Center for Prison Education.