Dr Eleni Ponirakis
I am new to Pembroke this year, having taught previously at UCL. I will be teaching Old English for Prelims and for Course II paper I, as well as Middle English literature for FHS 2 Course 1 paper 2 and course 2 papers 2 and 3. One of the things I love most about teaching medieval literature is accompanying students on a journey of discovery to an unfamiliar time and place, and enjoying their surprise when they find how emotionally sophisticated early texts can be.
My research focuses on early medieval texts, and I am particularly interested in the influence of Greek patristic writing and thought on early medieval literature. I also teach courses on medieval mysticism and spirituality for Westcott House, Cambridge. I am working on a monograph for Liverpool University Press provisionally titled Greek Mystical Theology in Old English Texts.
I used to be a keen sailor and have brought my sailing knowledge in to demonstrate that Alfredian texts reveal a knowledge of advanced sailing techniques, including sailing closer to the wind. I am in the early stages of planning a project with Alfredian historian Ryan Lavelle to produce a book on seafaring in the age of Alfred.
Forthcoming:
Spirits and Spirituality in Medieval England from the Tenth to the Fourteenth Century, special issue of Nottingham Medieval, ed. Eleni Ponirakis (Turnhout: Brepols, 2025).
Monograph:
Thought and Action in Old English Poetry and Prose (Berlin: De
Gruyter, 2023).
Book Chapter:
‘The Place of Stillness: Greek Patristic Thought in Cynewulf’s Juliana’ in Ideas of the World in Early Medieval English Literature, eds. Mark Atherton, Kazutomo Karasawa, and Francis Leneghan (Turnhout: Brepols, 2022), pp. 223–48.
Journal Articles:
‘Steering the Ship of the Mind: Politics and Theology in the Nautical Expression of the Layered Mind in the Alfredian Translations’, SELIM Journal, ed. Francis Leneghan.
‘Anhyld þinre heortan eare: Mind as Body in the Sermons of Ælfric’ in Medieval Minds and Matter, special issue of OLHJ, ed. by James Louis Smith and Merel Veldhuizen, vol. 10/1, 2024.
‘Hellenic Language and Thought in Pre-Conquest England’ in Multilingualism in Medieval Britain and Ireland: Beyond English, Latin and French, special issue of Anglica ed. Amanda Roig-Marín, vol. 32/4, 2023.
‘Deor Line 1: Weland’s Torment Reconsidered’, Notes and Queries 69 (2022), 184–86.
‘Echoes of Eriugena in the Old English Boethius’, Neophilologus, 105 (2021), 279–88.
‘Egill’s Arinbjarnarkviða: How One Praise Poem Can Unlock Another’, Saga-Book, 44 (2020), 57–80.
‘Echoes of Augustine in Genesis B 261-2 and Illustration Junius 11, page 6’, Notes and Queries 67 (2020), 1–4.
Dr Eleni Ponirakis
I am new to Pembroke this year, having taught previously at UCL. I will be teaching Old English for Prelims and for Course II paper I, as well as Middle English literature for FHS 2 Course 1 paper 2 and course 2 papers 2 and 3. One of the things I love most about teaching medieval literature is accompanying students on a journey of discovery to an unfamiliar time and place, and enjoying their surprise when they find how emotionally sophisticated early texts can be.
My research focuses on early medieval texts, and I am particularly interested in the influence of Greek patristic writing and thought on early medieval literature. I also teach courses on medieval mysticism and spirituality for Westcott House, Cambridge. I am working on a monograph for Liverpool University Press provisionally titled Greek Mystical Theology in Old English Texts.
I used to be a keen sailor and have brought my sailing knowledge in to demonstrate that Alfredian texts reveal a knowledge of advanced sailing techniques, including sailing closer to the wind. I am in the early stages of planning a project with Alfredian historian Ryan Lavelle to produce a book on seafaring in the age of Alfred.
Forthcoming:
Spirits and Spirituality in Medieval England from the Tenth to the Fourteenth Century, special issue of Nottingham Medieval, ed. Eleni Ponirakis (Turnhout: Brepols, 2025).
Monograph:
Thought and Action in Old English Poetry and Prose (Berlin: De
Gruyter, 2023).
Book Chapter:
‘The Place of Stillness: Greek Patristic Thought in Cynewulf’s Juliana’ in Ideas of the World in Early Medieval English Literature, eds. Mark Atherton, Kazutomo Karasawa, and Francis Leneghan (Turnhout: Brepols, 2022), pp. 223–48.
Journal Articles:
‘Steering the Ship of the Mind: Politics and Theology in the Nautical Expression of the Layered Mind in the Alfredian Translations’, SELIM Journal, ed. Francis Leneghan.
‘Anhyld þinre heortan eare: Mind as Body in the Sermons of Ælfric’ in Medieval Minds and Matter, special issue of OLHJ, ed. by James Louis Smith and Merel Veldhuizen, vol. 10/1, 2024.
‘Hellenic Language and Thought in Pre-Conquest England’ in Multilingualism in Medieval Britain and Ireland: Beyond English, Latin and French, special issue of Anglica ed. Amanda Roig-Marín, vol. 32/4, 2023.
‘Deor Line 1: Weland’s Torment Reconsidered’, Notes and Queries 69 (2022), 184–86.
‘Echoes of Eriugena in the Old English Boethius’, Neophilologus, 105 (2021), 279–88.
‘Egill’s Arinbjarnarkviða: How One Praise Poem Can Unlock Another’, Saga-Book, 44 (2020), 57–80.
‘Echoes of Augustine in Genesis B 261-2 and Illustration Junius 11, page 6’, Notes and Queries 67 (2020), 1–4.