My research examines early modern English poetry and drama in the context of post-Reformation church history. I have working projects on religious nationalism and discrimination in Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus and Othello, John Milton's indebtedness in Paradise Lost to Paul's writings on religious mystery as a key way to realize religious "truth" in a faith community, and Edmund Spenser's ambivalence towards religious iconoclasm. I also work on the influence that music theory and media exerts upon early modern English literature. My work on this front includes research on the lyric "Take, o take those lips away," a likely non-Shakespearean song added to his play, Measure for Measure, which invites disruptive associations with popular revenge tragedy entitled Rollo, Duke of Normandy; and a broad reassessment of the status of vocal songs within the poetry of Edmund Spenser.
