My primary field of research, publication, and graduate teaching is early Greek poetry--epic, lyric, and tragedy. I have a special interest in how poets such as Pindar, Sappho, or Sophocles use form or structure as a component of meaning and persuasion.

In Queens College I teach courses in Greek and Latin language and on Greek and Latin authors. I also teach courses in which we read the authors in translation. I especially enjoy the course on epic and tragedy, in which we can participate with Homer and Greek tragedians in an examination of what it means to lead a human life, and the course on the classical backgrounds of English literature, where we see how both ancient and modern writers create new meanings by adapting, reinterpreting, and subverting the traditions that have preceded them.

I regard a knowledge of the Classics - the literature and the history, the myths, the forms of expression, the languages - as one of the most powerful tools available for increasing our ability to think about the world we live in.