Dr. Donncha O Rourke

Biography

Donncha O'Rourke is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh specializing in Latin poetry from the first century BC, particularly Roman elegiac and didactic poetry. He also has a keen interest in Hellenistic poetry and its reception in Rome. His academic journey began at Trinity College Dublin, where he completed his undergraduate studies before writing his doctoral thesis on Virgilian intertextuality in Propertius 4. He has held interim lectureships at Trinity College Dublin and NUI Maynooth and was awarded a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. O'Rourke teaches a range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses covering Latin language and literature, including the MSc Latin Text Seminar focused on Lucretius's works. His current research activities involve writing a commentary on Lucretius's 'De Rerum Natura' and a monograph titled 'Propertius and Virgilian Sensibility,' which will be published by Cambridge University Press in 2024. He has organized several conferences and published works related to ancient literary theory and poetic traditions, showcasing his dedication to advancing the field and mentoring prospective PhD students in Roman literary culture.

Research Interests