Dr. Elizabeth Rawlinson Mills

Biography

My recent research draws on extensive international archive research into popular poetry of the South African War, focusing particularly on poems published in British newspapers. A forthcoming monograph presents a wealth of new material that disrupts the traditional view of literary endeavors at the turn of the century, making a case for the value of poetry in the newspaper as a commentary of the time, often dismissed as ‘dismal twaddle’ by literary historians. The poems amassed constitute a rich, democratic historical source that complicates accounts of British responses to the South African War and the debates surrounding imperial military masculinities in the context of British national character and imperial politics. My doctoral research book received an honorable mention for the Research Society for Victorian Periodicals Sally Mitchell Dissertation Prize in 2022. This research is part of a broader interest in the role of poetry in society and popular culture, motivated by the belief that poetry should be accessible and available to everyone, which I aim to achieve through a project entitled 'Time Poem: playful pedagogies for a stressed-out system', supporting early-career English teachers and their students in finding rich and varied encounters with poetry in secondary education. Additionally, I represent the Faculty of Education on the University Steering Group responsible for partnerships with the BBC for various creative writing awards.

Research Interests

Experience