I specialize in British Renaissance literature (c. 1500-1700), particularly poetry, poetics, and the history of literary traditions. Much of my work lies at the intersection of aesthetics, religious studies, and political theory. My first book, National Reckonings: The Last Judgment and Literature in Milton's England (Cornell University Press 2019), shows how in the mid-seventeenth century, widespread expectation of Christ’s prophesied return put pressure on nationalistic thinking and encouraged Britons to embrace a more expansive—even cosmopolitan—idea of community. My current book project explores the place of Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost within the thinking of Charles Darwin, T. H. Huxley, and other Victorian evolutionists. From an icon of environmental aesthetics to a spokesperson (posthumously) for biblical literalism, Milton helped the evolutionists sharpen their new scientific theories and disseminate them within a broader public sphere. 

A fourth-generation Japanese American (Yonsei), I enjoy studying the poetry of Japan’s Edo Period (1603-1868), primarily the haiku (hokku) of Bashō, Issa, and others. With their penchant for disrupting literary and social norms, haiku are fascinating relics of cultural iconoclasm. Additionally, I am interested in how Japanese American poets of today think through issues of race, memory, and belonging—no less the generational trauma of World War II internment camps—in their own verses. 

I've published broadly on a number of authors including Milton, Hobbes, Marvell, Erasmus, the earl of Surrey, and Tennyson, and my articles have appeared in Erasmus Studies, Milton Studies, SEL, Philological Quarterly, Renaissance and Reformation, and other journals. 

Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University

Areas of Specialization and Interest
Renaissance, Book History, Religion and Literature