Dr. Elizabeth Harper
Griffith Chair and Associate Professor of English
Dr. Elizabeth Harper is associate professor of English at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. She previously taught at the University of Central Arkansas for four years. Dr. Harper teaches at Mercer because she believes that liberal-arts teaching can transform hearts as well as minds. She cares about her students as whole people and wants them to grow and flourish in her classes.
Education
- Ph.D., Medieval English Literature, University of North Carolina
- M.A., English, University of North Carolina
- B.A., English and Philosophy, Wheaton College
Specialty
Medieval English literature and religion
Professional Interests
Dr. Harper teaches courses on religion and literature, early British literature, medieval literature, Chaucer, and the history of the English language. Some of her recent special topics courses include Game of Thrones and the Western Literary Tradition, Pilgrimage, Medieval and Early Modern Women Writers, Poverty in Middle English Literature, and Julian of Norwich. She also teaches in the Great Books program.
Dr. Harper’s courses are structured around class discussion and writing. Enroll in her classes if you’re serious about intellectual exploration and are willing to read, talk, write, and work hard.
Other Interests
When she is not reading, writing, or teaching, Dr. Harper likes to garden, read mystery novels, and hike with her family. When the pandemic is over, she hopes to travel again.
Recent Publications
- “Skepticism and the Form of Thomas Hoccleve’s Series,” Studies in Philology, Volume 120, Number 2, Spring 2023, pp. 199-220.
- “The ryche man hatz more nede thanne the pore”: Economics and Dependence in Dives and Pauper,” in Money, Commerce, and Economics in Late Medieval English Literature, ed. ed.Craig Bertolet and Robert Epstein (2018)
- “ ‘A Tokene and a Book’: Reading Images in Dives and Pauper,” The Yearbook of Langland Studies 28 (2014)
- “Pearl in the Context of Fourteenth-Century Gift Economies,” The Chaucer Review 44, no. 4 (2010)
Dr. Harper also has published articles about teaching medieval literature to undergraduates.
Contact Dr. Elizabeth Harper
(478) 301-4009
harper_ev@mercer.edu
Office: Willingham 201A