Yu-Hung Tien

Thesis title: A Re-Examination of the Role of John Keats, Emily Dickinson, and Their Multi-Layered Literary Entanglements within the Flow of the Anglo-American Literary Exchanges

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 second-year PhD student at the University of Edinburgh and his project on the transatlantic literary relationships between John Keats and Emily Dickinson 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

Emily Dickinson International Society (EDIS), US, Member 

EDIS, US, EDIS 2025 International Conference , Postgraduate Planning Committee (Sep 2023-present )

Keats-Shelley Association of America (K-SAA), US, Communications Fellow (Sep 2022 - July 2024)

K-SAA, US, 'Global Mapping of Romanticism' Podcast Series, Director (Jan 2024 - July 2024)

K-SAA, US, 'My First Acquaintance with Romanticism' Blog Post Series, Curator 

British Association for Romantic Studies (BARS), UK, Postgraduate Representative (June 2022 - July 2024)

BARS, UK, 2022/2023 Digital Events Series, Committee  (Aug 2022 - June 2023)

The Wenshan Review of Literature and Culture, Taiwan, Assistant Editor (May 2021 - Present) 

Enlightenment and Romanticism Network, Taiwan,  Member

Undergraduate teaching

  • Literary Studies 2A: English Literature in the World, 1380-1788 (2024-25)

Open to PhD supervision enquiries?

No

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 is further forged into his wider research focus on Romanticism and its legacies.

In his doctoral project, Yu-Hung particularly draws on a wide range of theoretical frameworks to diversify rather than to specify the transatlantic poetic bonds generated between John Keats and Emily Dickinson. In so doing, he aims to provide different ways for us to revisit Romanticism's transatlantic legacies.

Affiliated research centres

Current project grants

Ministry of Education Overseas PhD Scholarship, Taiwan

Past project grants

• Conference Grant, LLC, University of Edinburgh, UK (July 2024, Nov 2023, July 2023)
• PhD Travel / Training Funding, School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures (LLC), University of Edinburgh, UK (Feb 2024, Nov 2023, July 2023)
o Supported research visits to the Boston Public Library, Amherst College, Emily Dickinson Museum, Harvard’s Houghton Library, and NCCU, for archival work and primary and secondary source analysis
• University Go Abroad Fund, University of Edinburgh, UK (July 2023)
o Supported research trip to Boston, Cambridge, and Amherst, MA
• Stephen Copley Research Award, BARS, UK (Feb 2023)
o Supported research visits to the British Library, Cambridge University Library, and Keats-Shelley House for research on Romantic literature
• Ministry of Education Overseas PhD Scholarship, Taiwan (Sep 2022 - Aug 2024)
• Global Citizenship Program Scholarship, Ustinov College, Durham University, UK (Oct 2018 - Sep 2019)
• Best Director & Best Play Awards of the Annual English Drama Competition, NCCU English Department, Taiwan (May 2017)
• University Academic Excellence Award, NCCU, Taiwan (2015)
• Departmental Academic Excellence Award, NCCU English Department (2015)

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 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

  • “The Pandemic and Romantic Pedagogy in Asia” — with Dr Li Ou (Chineses University of Hong Kong), Dr Ya-feng Wu (National Taiwan University), Dr Chris Murray (Monash University, Australia), Dr Alex Watson (Meiji University, Japan), Carolyn Wu (NCCU, Taiwan), BARS Digital Series (remote, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LF4EJXjfxpo), April 2023
  • “ ‘I am leading a posthumous existence’: My Research Journey Through John Keats’s Afterlives,” The Enlightenment and Romanticism Network (EARN) Lecture Series, 45, (online presentation with in-person audience in Taipei, Taiwan),  April 2023
  • “Rethinking Transatlantic Romanticism, Poetic Reciprocity, and Asia” — with Professor Li-hsin Hsu (NCCU), Romanticism Across Borders — PG/ECR Online Seminar (remote), April 2023   
  • “Romantic Poetry: An EARN Forum” — with other online speakers Pauline Hortolland (Université de Paris), Laura Brook (University of Edinburgh) and Charlotte Evans (University of Birmingham) via Skype, EARN (NCCU, Taipei, 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) — Volunteer

Papers delivered

  • “Dickinson’s Remake of Keats’s “Poetical Character,”  BARS Biennial International Conference, *This presentation is featured in The North American Society for the Study of Romanticism Panel (University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK), July 2024
  • “The Haunting Presence of the Notions of Mortality and Immortality Across the Atlantic in Keats and Dickinson,” Wenshan International Conference (NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan), Nov 2023
  • “ ‘I shall keep singing!’: Dickinson’s Revitalization of the Melodies of Keats’s Nightingale,” EDIS Annual Meeting (Amherst, MA, US), July 2023 *This presentation is featured in The Emily Dickinson International Society Bulletin, vol. 35, no. 2, Nov/Dec 2023, p. 26.
  • “ ‘She dwells with Beauty—Beauty that must die’: A Re-visitation of the Entanglement of Mortality and Immortality in Keats’s 1819 Odes,” BARS ECR&PGR Conference (University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK), June 2023
  • “ ‘He was my host — he was my guest’: Reconnecting Emily Dickinson with Her Literary Ancestors,” BARS 2021 Digital Conference (Remote), August 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, 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, Lancaster, UK), July 2019

Peer-reviewed Journal Articles:

  • “‘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. (MLA)

Non-Peer-Reviewed Academic Publications:

  • 「『子夜昏暗的手臂 / 環抱半球，與家園」：跨文化英美文學的研究歷程』“ ‘The Midnight's Dusky Arms / Clasp Hemispheres, and Homes’: A Research Journey Embodying a Transcultural Approach to Anglo-American Literature,” Taiwan English and American Literature Association (EALA) E-newsletter, Aug 2024, pp. 16-19
  • “ ‘The Earth reversed her Hemispheres’: A Transhemispherical Reading of Dickinson,” The Emily Dickinson International Society Bulletin, vol. 36, no. 1, 2024, pp. 23-4. (MLA)

 Publications in Other Media:

This article was published on