Kevin R. Poole is an assistant professor of Spanish and Medieval Studies at Yale University, where he has taught since 2009. In 2006 he completed his Ph.D. in Spanish and Portuguese at the Ohio State University, where he specialized in medieval Spanish literature. His dissertation is entitled “Visualizing Apocalypse: Image and Narration in the Tenth-Century Gerona Beatus Commentaries on the Apocalypse.” Following completion of his degree, he taught at Clemson University from 2006 to 2009.
Doctor Poole’s research focuses primarily on the relationships among Christian theology, literature and the visual arts in Spain from c.750 to c.1350, with a secondary focus on the role of Latin- and Romance-language change in the development of literary and rhetorical traditions during the same period. He has published articles on the works of the thirteenth-century Spanish poet Gonzalo de Berceo, as well as on the fourteenth-century poet Juan Ruiz. He has also written on apocalypse rhetoric of medieval Europe and, specifically, on the tenth-century illustrated Beatus Apocalypse manuscripts. Kevin is currently working on a monograph on the theology of faith, love and happiness in Juan Ruiz’s Libro de buen amor.
Teaching is one of Kevin’s great pleasures, and he has had the opportunity to offer courses on a variety of topics related to medieval Spanish literature and history. Ones that he regularly teaches include studies of medieval religious literature, the history of the Spanish language, the medieval Spanish chronicle and history and literature of the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. In 2011 Kevin received the Yale University Sarai Ribicoff Award for Teaching Excellence.
Kevin Poole is a member of the Medieval Academy of America, the Asociación Hispánica de Literatura Medieval, the American Academy of Research Historians of Medieval Spain and the Association for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies.
