Yu-Hung Tien

Thesis title: 'American Keats: A Re-examination of the Literary Afterlives of John Keats through the Writing of Emily Dickinson, Wallace Stevens, and F. Scott Fitzgerald'

Biography

Background

Yu-hung studied English Language and Literature as an undergraduate at the National Chengchi University, Taiwan, during which he joined an international summer school programme at the University of California, Berkeley, US, and participated in an exchange programme at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China. In 2018, Yu-hung studied for a Master's in Romantic and Victorian Literary Studies at the University of Durham, UK.

He is now a first year PhD student at the University of Edinburgh and his project on the transatlantic reception of the English Romantic poet John Keats is funded by the Ministry of Education Overseas PhD Scholarship, Taiwan. Meanwhile, he is now serving as a PGR representative for the British Association for Romantic Studies, and taking on a role as a Communications Fellow for Keats-Shelley Association of America. 

Qualifications

MA Romantic and Victorian Literary Studies, University of Durham, UK, 2020

BA English Language and Literature, National Chengchi University, Taiwan, 2018

Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China (Exchange Programme), 2018

University of California, Berkeley, US (Summer School Programme), 2015

Responsibilities & affiliations

Keats-Shelley Association of America (K-SAA), US, Sep 2022-present 

British Association for Romantic Studies (BARS), UK, June 2022-present

The Wenshan Review of Literature and Culture, Taiwan, May 2021-present 

Enlightenment and Romanticism Network, Taiwan,  Nov 2016-present 

Research summary

Yu-Hung has, ever since his undergraduate studies, developed intense passion for British Romanticism, with a particular fascination with the English Romantic poet John Keats. His primary interests lie in the ways in which the ideas of mortality and immortality are meditated upon, configured, and conflated by Keats in his writing, which further develops into his current research focus on the poetic legacies of Keats.

In his doctoral project, Yu-Hung proposes to look at the literary afterlives of Keats from a dynamic transatlantic perspective, with a particular focus on Keats's 'posthumous existence' in Emily Dickinson, Wallace Stevens and F. Scoot Fitzgerald. He aims to demonstrate how Keats’s works are read, responded to, or appropriated by the selected writers on the other side of the Atlantic to help them address, and speak to certain religious, aesthetic, and social concerns of their ages. In so doing, Yu-Hung seeks to further illuminate the transfiguration of British Romanticism during its cross-cultural transmission. 

Affiliated research centres

Current project grants

Ministry of Educaton Overseas PhD Scholarship, Taiwan

Past project grants

Global Citizenship Program Scholarship, Ustinov College, University of Durham, UK - 2018-19
Ministry of Science and Technology University Student Research Grant, Taiwan - 2017-18

Conference details

Over the past few years, Yu-Hung has participated in a wide range of international events/conferences/forums held by such organisations as the British Association for Romantic Studies (UK), the Keats Foundation (UK), the Emily Dickinson International Society (US), and the Enlightenment and Romanticism Network (Taiwan), all of which have significantly widened his international outlook.

In the next few years, Yu-Hung plans to continue his active involvement in the international scholarly events to help enrich his PhD studies, both socially and academically. He also welcomes any potential international collaborations. 

Invited speaker

'Romantic Poetry: An EARN Forum' (National Chengchi University, Taiwan), May 2021

Organiser

Postgraduate Symposium ‘Literary Crisis: Romanticism Before and After’ (National Chengchi University, Taiwan),  Dec 2020

BARS 2023 Early Career Researcher & Postgraduate Researcher Conference (University of Edinburgh, UK), June 2023

Participant

Literary Salon ‘Global Romanticism’,  BARS Digital Conference 2021 (Remote) — Co-Organiser

The Emily Dickinson Marathon: Emily Dickinson International Society, Tell It Slant Poetry Festival 2020, (Remote) — Reader

Emily Dickinson International Society Annual Meeting 2020: ‘Dickinson at a Distance’ (Remote) — Participant

Keats Bicentenary Conference 2019 (London, UK) — Participant

13th Annual Wenshan International Conference 2016: 'Romantic Legacies', (Taipei, Taiwan) — Participant

Papers delivered

' "He was my host — he was my guest": Reconnecting Emily Dickinson with Her Literary Ancestors',  BARS Digital Conference (Remote), Aug 2021

' "Fled is that music: Do I wake or sleep?": A Re-assessment of the Unfading Melody of John Keats’s 1819 Odes in Emily Dickinson's "I died for Beauty—but was scarce" ', Romantic Reputations Symposium (Remote), April 2021

'Keats and the Imagination: Revisiting Keats’s Earthly Desires in the World of Imagination in his Great Odes', BARS Biennial International Conference (University of Nottingham, UK), July 2019

' "A thing of beauty is a joy for ever": Keats’s Reincarnation in Dickinson’s World of Imagination',  Transatlantic Studies Association Annual Conference (Lancaster University, UK), July 2019

" 'He was my host - he was my guest': The Transplantation of John Keats in Emily Dickinson’s Imagination," Symbiosis: A Journal of Transatlantic Literary & Cultural Relations, vol. 26, no. 1, Spring 2022, pp. 27-48

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