Name: Aidan Burke

Course: English – Texts & Contexts: Medieval to Renaissance

College: University College Cork

Previous Study: Arts (Joint Honours): English and History, UCC.

Academic Interests:

My interests range range from old to middle English literature through to early modern literature.

My past study of history draws my to consider older texts within their contextual history. I am fascinated by the overlap of Old English and Norse literature, as well as the overlap between Celtic literature and Middle English literature. I am interested in the ways in which literary traditions influence one another.

I enjoy the study of theology and the ways in which theological ideas have shaped many medieval texts, such as the writings of the Pearl Poet.

I am interested in ecocritical readings of medieval works, such as Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight both of which explore the dangers of the natural world, revealing the fears it produced in the minds of medieval writers.

I am particularly interested in the ways in which older works have been adapted and received by modern audiences. I am particularly drawn to the imaginative writings of J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, examining the ways in which they recreate, reimagine and repurpose older texts within their own works.