Daniel Donoghue

Daniel Donoghue is the John P. Marquand Professor of English at Harvard University and currently Director of Undergraduate Studies (on leave Fall 2025). He specializes in Old and Middle English literature, medievalism, cognitive literary studies, digital humanities, and comedy. His research emphasizes early English texts' interpretive frameworks, including reading practices and stylistic analysis.

Donoghue holds a B.A. from the University of Dallas (1978), M.Phil. from University College Dublin (1981), and Ph.D. from Yale (1986). He is renowned for works like How the Anglo-Saxons Read Their Poems (2018), Lady Godiva: The History of a Legend (2003), and his verse translation of Beowulf (2002).

His recent work explores digital humanities applications to medieval texts, such as Lawman's Language (2015), and he serves as General Editor of The Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library. Donoghue actively supports first-generation students and emphasizes accessibility in academia.