School of Writing, Literature, and Film

Rebecca Olson, an Oregon native, teaches courses on early modern poetry and drama (c. 1400-1700). Her ongoing research interest is the relationship between literature and the imagination: the ways literary texts encourage readers and playgoers to engage the “mind’s eye” and to think about each other. She is the author of Arras Hanging: The Textile That Determined Early Modern Literature and Drama (The University of Delaware Press, 2013), which reveals the significance of Renaissance tapestries in the work of Shakespeare, Spenser, and other early modern writers. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in journals including PMLA, Word & Image, and Modern Philology, and she recently oversaw the production of a student-edited, free online textbook edition of Romeo and Juliet. 

Teaching/Research Specialization:
Shakespeare, early modern material culture, and word and image studies

To view Professor Olson's CV, click here.