Profile
I studied for a BA in English at Oxford and an MPhil in Medieval Studies and a PhD in English and Renaissance Studies at Yale and have taught at Queen Mary since 2021. My dissertation was about stories about the invention of agriculture in late medieval and early modern literature, arguing that writers in those periods reworked classical stories as a form of ecological thought. My article "'Slimy Kempes Ill Smelling of the Mud:' The Terroir of Poetry and the Desire for Change in Barclay’s Eclogues," published in The Sixteenth Century Journal, won the Yale University Theron Rockwell Field Prize and the Sixteenth Century Society Literature Prize. I am generally interested in the ways in which texts are passed down and reinvented throughout time. My current work focuses on the way in which the academic study of literature informs the work of Taylor Swift and how it is read by a wider audience. My first work of literary nonfiction, Dear Reader: Taylor Swift and the Idea of English Literature, is forthcoming with Hutchinson Heinemann in 2026. My article "Why Taylor Swift belongs on English literature degree courses" was the fourth most read article on The Conversation written by a Queen Mary academic last year and was widely republished. I write a newsletter with reviews of books and exhibitions about Swift and updates on my work called The Manuscript: Taylor Swift and Literature (https://cliodoyle.substack.com/).
Teaching
I designed and taught classes on popular culture and virtual reality at Yale and I have taught a number of classes on medieval and early modern literature at Yale, Quinnipiac University, and Queen Mary University of London. I teach a module that I designed, Taylor Swift and Literature, for the Queen Mary University of London Summer School.
Research
Research Interests:
- Taylor Swift as Literature
- Classical Reception
- False Histories and Historical Fictions
-
Recent and On-Going Research
My work on Taylor Swift began when I hosted the podcast Studies in Taylor Swift, which reads the lyrics of Taylor Swift through the prism of critical theory. The podcast is no longer active but selected episodes are available on most podcast platforms. I am working on a book called Dear Reader: Taylor Swift and the Idea of English Literature, which discusses Swift's work from the vantage point of English literature, exploring how English as a discipline can help us understand Swift and what Swift can tell us about the study of English. I am interested in using the current public interest in Swift's literary aspects as a way to enter wider discussions of the role of English and the study of the Humanities in the culture at large and to introduce theoretical concepts to a wider public. I recently presented my work at Fuck the Patriarchy: A Taylor Swift Conference at the University of Kent and as a keynote speaker for the Graduate Conference in European History at Central European University.
I also co-host Clio/Mireille: A Fanfiction Podcast with Mireille Pardon, in which we close read works of fan fiction, one pairing at a time, and reflect on what they can teach us about storytelling, desire, and the emotional valences of reading.
Publications
Book
Dear Reader: Taylor Swift and the Idea of English Literature, Hutchinson Heinemann, forthcoming 2026.
Articles and Book Chapters
“Poetry and Agriculture in Early Modern Britain,” Routledge Resources Online - The Renaissance World, 2024.
"'Slimy Kempes Ill Smelling of the Mud:' The Terroir of Poetry and the Desire for Change in Barclay’s Eclogues,” The Sixteenth Century Journal 52:2, 2021.
"Ecocriticism for Early Modernists: An Annotated Bibliography," Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 4:1, 2021.
"Titus Andronicus’s 'fearful and confused cries:' birdsong, empathy, and the fear of sound" in Auditory Worlds: Hearing and Staging Practices Then and Now, eds.
Laury Magnus and Walter Cannon, Vancouver: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2020.
Reviews
“Madeline Bassnett, project dir. Weather Extremes in England's Little Ice Age,1500-1700. Historic weather database mapping application,” Early Modern Digital Review, forthcoming.
“Hamlet, Jess and Aubrey Whitlock. The Hurly Burly Shakespeare Show. Podcast,” Early Modern Digital Review 6.2.
“Elizabeth L. Swann, Taste and Knowledge in Early Modern England,” The Spenser Review 52.3, 2022.
"The Afterlife of Aldus: Posthumous Fame, Collectors and the Book Trade,” The Sixteenth Century Journal, 49:4, 2018.
Public Engagement
Public Writing
I write a newsletter about Swift and literature, The Manuscript: Taylor Swift and Literature, at https://cliodoyle.substack.com/. My writing has appeared in The Independent, THE Campus, The Conversation, From the Quadrangle, and Marginalia at the LA Review of Books. I have hosted two podcasts, Clio/Mireille: A Fanfiction Podcast and Studies in Taylor Swift, and have co-created podcasts on AI and language learning for the National Humanities Center Humanities in Class Digital Library. I have discussed my work on Taylor Swift on BBC Breakfast, ITV News, BBC News, BBC News Streaming, BBC Radio Newcastle, Times Radio, and Teachers Talk Radio and I have been interviewed for articles in many publications including The Christian Science Monitor, Dazed, and El Mundo. I have given lectures for MASSOLIT and Seed Talks on the subject.
"Making Space for the Humanities," From the Quadrangle, https://whc.yale.edu/, 2021.
"'Make it Sing!' Jon Butler Remembers 320 York," From the Quadrangle, https://whc.yale.edu/, 2021.
"The Stone Heads of 320 York," From the Quadrangle, https://whc.yale.edu/, 2021.
Podcasts
Clio/Mireille: A Fanfiction Podcast, multiple platforms, ongoing from August 2022.
Studies in Taylor Swift, multiple platforms, ongoing from March 2021.
"Where Do We Go From Here? The Future of Artificial Intelligence and the Humanities" with Lauren Cox and Joanna Lawson, National Humanities Center Humanities in Class Digital Library, 2021.
"Speaking Eleanor" with Alliya Dagman, Madelaine Matej MacQueen, and Elizabeth Narvaez, National Humanities Center Humanities in Class Digital Library, 2021.
