About our staff
Dr Donncha O'Rourke
BA, PhD
Senior Lecturer; Classics
- Tel: +44 (0)131 650 3771
- Email: donncha.orourke@ed.ac.uk
- Room 03.11, William Robertson Wing, Old Medical School, Teviot Place
Office hours
Biography
I am a native of Dublin and graduate of Trinity College, where I was lucky enough to study Classics as an undergraduate before going on to write my doctoral thesis on Virgilian intertextuality in Propertius 4. Interim lectureships at TCD and NUI Maynooth were followed by a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, in 2010, and this in turn by my current post here at Edinburgh.
Summary of research interests
Places:- Europe
- Mediterranean
- Ancient Civilisations
- Gender
- Language & Literature
- Antiquity
Research interests
My research focuses primarily on Latin poetry of the first century BC, and especially on Roman elegiac and didactic poetry. A further strand of my research relates to Hellenistic poetry, especially as received at Rome.
More generally, I am interested in allusion and intertextuality, formal design in ancient poetry-books, genre, and gender-related issues in Roman poetry; work on Lucretius-reception in elegy has also prompted me to think more broadly about philosophical subtexts in literary texts.
Current research activities
A monograph entitled Propertius and the Virgilian Sensibility, on the reception of Virgil in Propertius Book 4, is forthcoming with CUP. I am also currently writing a commentary on Lucretius, De Rerum Natura 1, and a book on akrasia in Roman elegy, arising from my 2021-22 Leverhulme Research Fellowship and 2022 Stanford Lecture Series at Trinity College Dublin.
Research projects
In 2021-22 I held a Research Fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust for a project entitled 'Erring willingly: agency, akrasia and free will in Roman elegy'. I had the opportunity to air this work at the 2022 W.B. Stanford Memorial Lecture Series at Trinity College Dublin, and it will be published by CUP under the auspices of that series in due course.
Previously I organised conferences at Edinburgh on ‘Lucretius in Theory: literary-critical approaches to the De rerum natura’ and (with Dr Lilah-Grace Canevaro) 'Didactic Poerty: Tradition and Traditions'. The proceedings of both conferences have since been published.
Undergraduate teaching
I offer (or teach on) the following courses:
Pre-Honours
Latin 1a & 1b
Latin 1c/2a ex-beginners
Latin 1d
Roman World 1a & 1b
Honours
Latin 1Ha & 1Hb
Latin Language A & B
Amor & Roma: Latin love-elegy
Latin Satire
Roman Satire
Ancient Didactic Poetry
Postgraduate teaching
MSc
Latin Text Seminar (Lucretius)
Elementary Latin (PG) 1
Skills and Methods in Classics
Current Students:
| Name | Degree | Thesis topic | Supervision type | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leotta, Roberta | PhD | Primary |
| |
| Barsani, Beatrice | PhD | The colours of God: Polychromatic imagery for the divine in late antique Latin poetry | Secondary |
|
| Panou, Yolanda | PhD | Primary |
| |
| Trachtenberg, David | PhD | Primary |
|
Past Students:
| Name | Degree | Thesis topic | Supervision type | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cassidy, Sarah | PhD | 'A commentary on Apollonius Rhodius' Argonautica, 4.1537 - End' | Primary | link |
| Vos, Gary | PhD | The Shepherd of Divine Song: Linus and the Literary Tradition | Primary | link |
| Longley-Cook, Dorothy | PhD | A City of Marbe, A City of Song: Roman Monuments and the Poetics of Space in Ovidian Poetry | Primary |
| Tsakiris, Manos | PhD | Epic in Uncharted Waters: The Genres of Apollonius Rhodius’ Argonautica | Secondary | |
| DeBlois, Celeste | PhD | Carmina magica: Reading Magic and Ritual in Latin Love Elegy | Primary |
Books - Edited
Torrance, I. and O'Rourke, D. (eds.) (2020) Classics and Irish Politics, 1916-2016. Oxford: Oxford University Press
O'Rourke, D. (ed.) (2020) Approaches to Lucretius: Traditions and Innovations in Reading the De Rerum Natura. Cambridge: Cambridge University PressDOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108379854
Canevaro, L. and O'Rourke, D. (eds.) (2019) Didactic Poetry of Greece, Rome and Beyond: Knowledge, Power, Tradition. Swansea: Classical Press of WalesDOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvd58tb5
Articles
O'Rourke, D. (2017) Hospitality narratives in Virgil and Callimachus: The ideology of reception. The Cambridge Classical Journal, 63, pp. 118-142DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1750270517000057
O'Rourke, D. (2014) Lovers in Arms: Empedoclean Love and Strife in Lucretius and the Elegists. Dictynna, 11, pp. 2
O'Rourke, D. (2011) 'Eastern' Elegy and 'Western' Epic: reading 'orientalism' in Propertius 4 and Virgil's Aeneid. Dictynna, pp. 2-23
O'Rourke, D. (2011) The representation and misrepresentation of Virgilian poetry in Propertius 2.34. American Journal of Philology, 132(3), pp. 457-497DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/ajp.2011.0030
O'Rourke, D. (2010) Maxima Roma in Propertius, Virgil, and Gallus. The Classical Quarterly, pp. 470-485
Chapters
O'Rourke, D. (2021) Akrasia and agency in Ovid's Tristia. In: Williams, G. and Volk, K. (eds.) Philosophy in Ovid, Ovid as Philosopher. Oxford University Press, pp. 267-286DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197610336.003.0014
O'Rourke, D. (2021) Reading the Flood in Latin Literature: Literary and cosmic symbolism. In: Cairns, F. (ed.) Papers of the Langford Latin Seminar 18: Roman Poetry, Republican and Imperial. Francis Cairns Publications Ltd, pp. 121-152
Torrance, I. and O'Rourke, D. (2020) Classics and Irish Politics: Introduction. In: Torrance, I. and O'Rourke, D. (eds.) Classics and Irish Politics, 1916-2016. Oxford University Press, pp. 1-23
O'Rourke, D. (2020) Infinity, enclosure and false closure in Lucretius' De Rerum Natura. In: O'Rourke, D. (ed.) Approaches to Lucretius: Traditions and Innovations in Reading the De Rerum Natura. Cambridge University Press, pp. 103-123DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108379854.007
O'Rourke, D. (2020) Introduction: Approaching Lucretius. In: O'Rourke, D. (ed.) Approaches to Lucretius: Traditions and Innovations in Reading the De Rerum Natura. Cambridge University Press, pp. 1-16DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108379854.002
Canevaro, L. and O'Rourke, D. (2019) Introduction. In: Canevaro, L. and O'Rourke, D. (eds.) Didactic Poetry of Greece, Rome and Beyond: Knowledge, Power, Tradition. Classical Press of Wales, pp. 1-20DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvd58tb5.3
O'Rourke, D. (2019) Knowledge is power: Dynamics of (dis)empowerment in didactic poetry. In: Canevaro, L. and O'Rourke, D. (eds.) Didactic Poetry of Greece, Rome and Beyond: Knowledge, Power, Tradition. Classical Press of Wales, pp. 21-52DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvd58tb5.4
O'Rourke, D. (2018) Make war not love: Militia amoris and domestic violence in Roman elegy. In: Gale, M. and Scourfield, J. (eds.) Texts and Violence in the Roman World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 110-139DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781139225304
O'Rourke, D. (2018) Authorial surrogates in Grattius' Cynegetica. In: Green, S. (ed.) Grattius: Hunting an Augustan Poet. Oxford University Press, pp. 193-211DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198789017.003.0010
O'Rourke, D. (2016) The madness of elegy: Rationalizing Propertius. In: Hardie, P. (ed.) Augustan Poetry and the Irrational. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 199-217DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198724728.001.0001
O'Rourke, D. (2013) Paratext and Intertext in the Propertian Poetry Book. In: The Roman Paratext: Frame, Texts, Readers. Cambridge University Press, pp. 156-175
O'Rourke, D. (2012) Intertextuality in Roman elegy. In: Gold, B. (ed.) A Companion to Roman Love Elegy. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 390-409DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118241165.ch24
Conference contribution
O'Rourke, D. (2020) Elegies for Ireland: W.B. Yeats, Michael Longley and the Roman elegists. In: Classics and Irish Politics, 1916-2016. Oxford University PressDOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198864486.001.0001