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    （Last updated : 2026-11-05 14:21:14）
  SIMONS, Christopher E. J.

   Senior Associate Professor

   Division of Arts and Sciences, College of Liberal Arts, International Christian University
■ Academic Background
1. 2004/07
Degree Acquisition		 Lincoln College, University of Oxford, Ph.D
2. 1999/08
Degree Acquisition		 University of Toronto, M.A.
3. 1997/06/05
Degree Acquisition		 Harvard University, B.A.
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■ Professional Background
1. 2014/04～ Senior Associate Professor, Division of Arts and Sciences, College of Liberal Arts, International Christian University
2. 2008/09～2014/03 Associate Professor, Division of Arts and Sciences, College of Liberal Arts, International Christian University
3. 2023/04 Lecturer, Adjunct Professor (Literature and Poetics), Hosei University GIS
4. 2007/04～2010/03 Lecturer, Adjunct Professor (Literature and History), Keio University, Faculty of Law, Hiyoshi Campus
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■ Present Specialized Fields
European literature, Literature in English, History of Europe and America (Key Word：British Romantic Poetry; British Early Modern Drama; English Poetry; Science and Magic in Literature; Contemporary British and Irish Poetry; Gender Studies in English Poetry) 
■ Profile
I am a British-Canadian academic and poet specialising in early modern and Romantic-period British poetry and drama, and Modern and contemporary Anglo-Irish poetry. I am currently Senior Associate Professor of British literature and creative writing at International Christian University (ICU), Tokyo. My teaching covers British literature from its origins in Anglo-Saxon poetry to contemporary literature, with a focus on poetry and verse drama. My research focuses on three periods: British Romanticism (primarily Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Keats); Shakespeare and his contemporaries in early modern poetry and drama (Shakespeare, Greene, Webster, etc.); and modern and contemporary Anglo-Irish poetry from W. B. Yeats to the present.

At ICU, I have been the director of the Peace Research Institute (PRI) since 2021. I am a former director of the Research Institute for Christianity and Culture (ICC); and a member and former steering committee member of the Centre for Gender Studies (CGS).

In addition to peer-reviewed books, journal articles, and book chapters, my poetry and criticism have appeared in a range of publications including the Times Literary Supplement, The Independent, P N Review, Oxford Poetry, Magma, The Liberal, The May Anthology, Isis, NOON: the journal of the short poem, and Tokyo Poetry Journal. I have published three full-length verse collections with Isobar Press, Japan’s leading English-language poetry press, most recently Flight Risk (2021) (ISBN 978-4907359362). My major poetry awards include second place in the 2009 Academi-Cardiff International Poetry Competition and being twice listed for Canada’s CBC Literary Prize (2009 and 2010). In 2003, I held the Harper-Wood Studentship in Creative Writing from St. John’s College, Cambridge. I am a former Editor of the Poetry Book Society, London, where I edited their quarterly magazine, the Bulletin.
■ Main Course Titles
British Romantic Poetry (especially Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats); Early Modern Poetry and Drama (Greene, Shakespeare, Webster, Middleton); Poetry and Poetics; Gender and Sexuality Studies in Poetry
■ Books and Articles
1. Book Magic, Masculinity, and Form in English Poetry from Shakespeare to Yeats: Sons of Demons   (Single) 2026/10Link
2. Book The Palgrave Handbook of Romantic Life-Writing   (Collaboration) 2026/12
3. Article Peter Bell’s Professions Romanticism 29(3),pp.226-238 (Single) 2023/11
4. Book Flight Risk   (Single) 2021/09Link
5. Article Wordsworth’s Spenserian Poem The Charles Lamb Bulletin 173 (Single) 2021/06
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■ Academic Conference Presentation
1. 2025/11/30 Conference Organiser and Host (The Japan Writers Conference 2025: Celebrating Peace and Diversity)
2. 2025/11/30 Deep Background: Using Authentic Magical Texts (The Japan Writers Conference 2025: Celebrating Peace and Diversity)
3. 2023/08/07 Magical poetics and masculinity in Wordsworth’s 'The Egyptian Maid' (Wordsworth Summer Conference 2023)
4. 2013/06/13 (Romantic Connections conference (NASSR/BARS joint conference))
5. 2011/07/08 'Not waving but drowning': Japanese students’ perceptions of suicide and melancholy in English literature (Poetry and Melancholia Conference)
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■ Lectures
1. 2021/10/19 Metrical Magic: Supernatural Spacetimes in Coleridge’s Christabel (Clare Hall, Cambridge)
2. 2016/09/14 Literature and Violence (International Christian University (ICU), Tokyo)
3. 2011/06/18 Public and Private Trauma: the Poetry of Emily Dickinson
4. 2011/10/05 'Coward Conscience': Shakespeare’s Dramatic Values (Roppongi Hills Club, Tokyo)
5. 2026/02/14 Yeats and the Sidhe: Magical Poetics (Online (Zoom))
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■ Academic Society Memberships
1. 2015/10～ The Japan Writers ConferenceLink
2. 2024/10～2025/12 ∟ Conference Host
3. 2021/09～2022/04 Visiting Scholar, Faculty of English, Cambridge University
4. 2010/07～2017/07 The Wordsworth Conference Foundation: TrusteeLink
5. 2014/07～2017/04 ∟ WCF Web Designer
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■ Educational Achievements
● Practice example of education method
1. 2010/01～ Digital Film Projects
2. 2008～ Computer-based learning
● Matter that should be mentioned specially in others educational activity
1. 2011/04～ ICU Creative Writing Club
2. 2008/09～ ICU 'English Drama on Film' Seminars
3. 2006/09～2012/06 ICU Wing Tsun Kung Fu and Self-Defence Seminars
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■ Academic Awards
1. 2015/09 The Bridport Poetry Prize: Commendation (Commendation (Monetary Prize) for 'The Kung-Fu Master’s Résumé')
2. 2011/02 CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) Literary Contest 2010: longlisted (CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) Literary Contest 2010: longlisted for pamphlet 'Progress Bar')
3. 2010/10 The tall-lighthouse Poetry Pamphlet Competition: shortlisted (The tall-lighthouse Poetry Pamphlet Competition: shortlisted for poetry chapbook 'About Time')
4. 2010/02 CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) Literary Contest, 2009: shortlisted
5. 2009/08 Arvon Foundation Advanced Poetry Course: Grant Recipient
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■ Research Topics, Funded Research, and Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research
1. 2024/04～2029/03  Magical Poetics and Gender in Early Modern English Poetry and Its Influences on Romantic-Period English Poetry  (Key Word : British literature, Irish literature, poetry, poetics, magic, masculinity, gender studies, Robert Greene, Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare, William Wordsworth, S. T. Coleridge, John Keats, P. B. Shelley, Mary Shelley, Sara Coleridge, Christina Rossetti)
2. 2019/04～2024/03  The Influences of Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Representations of the ‘Virtuoso’ on English Romantic Poetry  (Key Word : )
3. 2015/04～2019/03  Between Scholasticism and Science: the Character of the ‘Virtuoso’ in the Poetry of William Wordsworth  (Key Word : British literature, British Romantic-period poetry, William Wordsworth, S. T. Coleridge, virtuoso, vertuoso, Scientific Revolution, antiquarianism, natural philosophy)
4. 2012/04～2014/03  Antiquarianism in the Poetry of William Wordsworth  (Key Word : British literature, British Romantic-period poetry, William Wordsworth, S. T. Coleridge, antiquarianism, collecting, archaeology, medieval literature, folklore, myth)
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■ Social Activities
1. 2007/02～2008/02 Tokyo Marathon
2. 2001/09～2006/09 Cambridge University Wing Tsun Kung Fu Society
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■ Exhibitions, Concerts and Athletic Meets
1. 2020/12/14～2020/12/18 Performance and Self-Creation: LGBTQ+ Performers in Tokyo (Honkan Second Floor Lounge, International Christian University (ICU), Tokyo)
2. 2023/01/20～2023/02/03 Fukushima Narratives (Honkan Second Floor Lounge, International Christian University (ICU), Tokyo)
3. 2023/01/20～2023/02/03 Fukushima Narratives II (T-Kan, International Christian University (ICU), Tokyo)
4. 2025/02/06～2025/02/16 Fukushima: No Photos Please (T-Kan, International Christian University (ICU), Tokyo)
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■ Websites
   Wordsworth Conference Foundation Homepage
   C. E. J. Simons Photography
■ Works
CEJS_headshot_Isobar_TNC_3904-1.jpg
■ Grants-in-aid for Scientific Research Researcher Number
80527143