Dr Dinah Roe
Research Lead for English, Creative Writing and Modern Languages, Reader in 19th Century Literature
School of Education, Humanities and Languages
Role
Dinah Roe received her BA from Vassar College. Funded by the Overseas Research Scholarship award, she received her PhD in English Literature from University College London in 2004 for a thesis on Christina Rossetti's devotional work. She specialises in 19th-century literature, but has taught across a variety of periods, including the 18th century, the Romantic period, Modernism, as well as contemporary literature.
Areas of expertise
Dinah's research is concentrated in 19th-century British literature, with a specific focus on poetry and Pre-Raphaelitism. Poets in whom she takes a particular interest are Christina Rossetti, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Morris and Algernon Charles Swinburne. Her work is heavily interdisciplinary, and her research often explores connections between 19th-century art and poetry. She is also interested in 19th-century material culture, as well as the art and literary criticism of the period.
Dinah would welcome research proposals in any of these areas.
Teaching and supervision
Courses
Modules taught
Undergraduate
- Culture, Criticism, Literature
- Critical Theory in Action
- Guilty Pleasures: Victorian Sensation (module co-ordinator)
- Crime, Culture & Transgression (module co-ordinator)
- Literary Pre-Raphaelitism
- Dissertation in English
Postgraduate
- Critical Debates & Methods
Supervision
- Dinah has examined a variety of PhDs on Pre-Raphaelitism, 19th-century poetry and the Victorian period.
- She has supervised MA and BA dissertations across literature of the 18th and 19th centuries on Romantic poetry, Victorian poetry and fiction.
Research
Dinah is particularly interested in Victorian poetry, specifically that of the Pre-Raphaelites. Supported by an Oxford Brookes Research Excellence Award, she is currently writing a monograph on the interactions of literary and visual arts in Pre-Raphaelite art, taking into account the influence of nineteenth-century literature on book illustration, painting and the decorative arts from 1848 to the turn of the century. She is also editing The Complete Poems of Christina Rossetti (Longman Annotated English Poets).
Centres and institutes
Groups
Projects as Principal Investigator, or Lead Academic if project is led by another Institution
- 'Occupations and Interruptions': Caring Responsibilities and Creativity in the Work of Christina Rossetti (01/09/2022 - 31/08/2023), funded by: British Academy, funding amount received by Brookes: £49,883
Publications
Professional information
Conferences
Recent papers and talks
- 17 Dec 2018: "Allegorizing On Her Own Hook": Christina Rossetti’s illustrations to Keble’s The Christian Year' (Christina Rossetti and the Illustrated Book Conference), Birkbeck Centre for Nineteenth-Century Studies and the Watts Gallery
- 2 Feb 2017: 'Inside Out: The Enclosed Garden in Pre-Raphaelite Painting & Poetry', Royal Holloway Centre for Victorian Studies
- 28 May 2016: Keynote Speaker at AHRC-funded conference, ‘Reading the Pre-Raphaelites’, hosted by Birmingham City University and Birmingham Museums & Galleries
- 11 May 2016: ‘Christina Rossetti: Past, Present & Future’, English & Media Centre (London) CPD day on teaching Christina Rossetti’s poetry in schools
- 24 Oct 2015: Founders' Day Lecture, 'The Rossettis In America', The Pre-Raphaelite Society
- Victorian Graduate Seminar, Faculty of English, University of Oxford. Lecture title: ‘Defining Pre-Raphaelite Poetry’
- 13 - 14 Sept 2013: Conference co-organiser, ‘Pre-Raphaelitism: Past, Present and Future’. Organised jointly with Professor Christiana Payne (History of Art, Oxford Brookes), St. John’s College Oxford and the Ashmolean Museum
Further details
Press, publicity and reviews
- 9 December 2019: Appeared on the BBC4 TV programme, 'Lucy Worseley's Christmas Carol Odyssey', to discuss Christina Rossetti's poem, 'In the bleak midwinter': https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000c5y4/lucy-worsleys-christmas-carol-odyssey
- October 2017: Discussed Pre-Raphaelite interpretations of Tennyson's 'The Lady of Shalott' in a promotional video for the National Gallery exhibition, 'Reflection: Van Eyck and the Pre-Raphaelites': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8usTwS2tw3Y&t=6s
- 10 Sept 2012: BBC Radio 4, ‘Front Row’. Reviewed Tate Britain Exhibition, The Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant-Garde
- 6 Dec 2011: BBC Radio 3, ‘The Verb’. Discussed Christina Rossetti’s poetry along with Gillian Clarke, National Poet of Wales