Kathryn Banks

Professor Kathryn Banks is a faculty member at Durham University’s School of Modern Languages and Cultures, specializing in Sixteenth-century French literature, culture, and thought. Her research bridges literary analysis with cognitive sciences, focusing on metaphor, embodiment, and apocalyptic narratives.

• Research areas include Cognitive sciences and literature, Apocalypse and 'poetic prophecy', and Movement in Renaissance texts.
• Supervised Zak Eastop’s PhD on Authority and Persuasion: The Role of Commonplaces (2021-2025).

Her publications explore interdisciplinary intersections, with 15 recent works analyzing topics such as sensorimotor imagery in Mary Oliver’s poetry, kinesic intelligence in Renaissance literature, and theological-political commonplaces in early modern European culture. Banks’ scholarship frequently examines how literary forms engage with revelation, cognition, and historical context across French love lyric, natural-philosophical poetry, and prose philosophy.