English
Robert Harrington Endowed Professor of English and Chair of English
English
Education:
Ph.D., University of Houston, 2002
M.F.A., University of Iowa, 1996
B.A., Oxford University, 1994
B.A., Hope College, 1992
Courses Frequently Taught:
English 101: Introduction to Creative Writing
English 202: Writing Poetry
English 301: Seminar in Creative Writing (topics include "Stand-up Poetry"; "Ekphrastic
Poetry"; "Ideas of Poetry / Poetry of Ideas"; and "Poetry, Daily")
English 344: Romantic Literature
English 370: Issues in Contemporary American Poetry
English 401: Senior Writing Project
Honors/Awards:
Work included in The Best of the AWP Pedagogy Papers 2009.
Sigma Tau Delta’s Eugene W. Hughes Outstanding Sponsor, 2007-2008.
Illinois Wesleyan University Student Senate Professor of the Year, 2007-2008.
Marshall Scholar, 1992-1994.
Selected Publications:
—Keats's Negative Capability: New Origins and Afterlives.
Ed. with Brian Rejack. Liverpool, UK: Liverpool UP, 2019.
—We Need to Talk: A New Method for Evaluating Poetry. With Bob Broad. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters, 2017.
—Midwestern Death Poems. With Austin Smith. Green River, VT: Longhouse, 2013.
—Structure & Surprise: Engaging Poetic Turns. Ed. New York: Teachers & Writers Collaborative, 2007.
—Poems in Alaska Review Quarterly, American Literary Review, American Poet, The New Republic,
Pindeldyboz, The Texas Review, and elsewhere.
Faculty Status:
Tenured, at IWU since 2002; next leave, 2022-23.
Professional and Personal:
I write criticism and poetry. My scholarship has three main concerns: the poetic turn
(those amazing places where poems radically change their focus); the assessment of
poetry (we do it all the time, so we should probably think deeply and well about it!);
and the Romantic poet John Keats (
swoon
). I blog about some of these interests at
structureandsurprise.