Harry Carter
I work on songs and lyrics, mainly those of Song dynasty China (960–1279 CE), Greek and Roman antiquity, and medieval Western Europe. By examining song lyrics from different traditions in a comparative framework, I try to clarify aspects of how they work that remain blurry or invisible when they are considered in isolation. I have recently given papers on comparative song lyric poetics at the (Leeds, June 2022), at the (Montreal, March 2024), and at (April 2024). In Winter 2025 I co-taught a graduate-level class on , co-designed with .
I am also interested in the permeable and productive border between song lyrics and poetry. In March 2023 I gave a paper at the (Chicago), arguing that medieval European fin’amor song lyrics and ci 詞 song lyrics departed radically and self-consciously from the poetic ideals of their times. In an article of mine published in , I argue that Geoffrey Chaucer (1343–1400) brings his songwriting expertise to bear on his approach to writing narrative poetry. In Spring 2024, I co-designed and co-taught a class called , with Marisa Galvez. We were interviewed about the class by . In Autumn 2024, I taught my own class called .
In the academic year 2021–2022 I was Vice Chair of the research collective, which organises seminars, conferences and workshops to enable interdisciplinary dialogue among scholars of premodern literature. In 2024-25, I co-ordinate a new DLCL research group called Comparative Methodologies, which brings together humanists of all stripes to consider the possibilities and pitfalls of comparison as a method. ‘Comparative’ can mean a variety of things in different disciplinary contexts. Our focal group presents an opportunity for humanists to expose themselves to new, challenging and generative ways of reimagining comparative theory and practice. We discuss the methodological underpinnings of research projects: instead of the usual focus on the ‘what’ of a project, we illuminate the ‘how’.