Dr. Heidi J. Snow

Dr. Heidi Snow's area of expertise is British literature, specifically the British Romantics. In conjunction with the Theatre and Dance Department, she has taught First Year Experience programs and co-led several abroads focused on Shakespeare. She has also co-led an abroad to the English Lake District with the biology department focused on conservation and Environmental Literature. She has been active in establishing and enriching relationships between Principia and the British field.

Scholarly Interests

Snow's scholarly research focuses on issues of poverty and religion, specifically as found in the writings of William Wordsworth, and on environmental literature in the Lake District. Her first sabbatical at the Wordsworth Trust in Grasmere, England, included an examination of the tastes and expectations of the Georgian readership with regard to religion, gender, and nature. Her most recent sabbatical explored attitudes towards mining in the Lake District from the renaissance through Wordsworth’s lifetime and also looked at Wordsworth’s conservatism during the national campaign regarding the Reform Bill of 1832.

Contributions to Field

• Snow's careful examination of the theological attitudes toward poverty during William Wordsworth's lifetime has contributed to discussions not only in the field of literature but also in the fields of religion and ethics
• Her book has been reviewed in such journals as Markets and Morality, The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, and Literature and Theology.
• Snow's work with the Wordsworth Trust has been instrumental in helping that institution expand its educational offerings to colleges and universities in the United States.

Awards

Named the Edith and Lewis White Distinguished Professor of English

Nominated for Outstanding Dissertation of 2008, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale

Teacher of the Year, Principia College, 2008–2009

Humanities Teacher of the Year, Principia College, 2007–2008

Induction into Phi Kappa Phi, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, 2006

Memberships and Affiliations

• Modern Language Association
• The Wordsworth Circle
• Friends of the Wordsworth Trust

Publications and Presentations

• William Wordsworth and the Theology of Poverty. Ashgate, 2013.
• “Reconstructing the Poor.” The Wordsworth Circle. 2011.
• “William Wordsworth’s Definition of Poverty.” Romanticism and Victorianism on the Net. 2010.
• “’This will never do’ or ‘A day in heaven.’” Wordsworth Conference, Grasmere, England, 2014.
• “Reconstructing the Poor.” Wordsworth Conference, Grasmere, England, 2010.
• “Descriptive Sketches: Pastoral Utilized and Rejected.” Wordsworth Conference, Wordsworth Birthplace Trust, Grasmere, England, 2002.
• “Wordsworth: Sight and the Sublime.” Central New York Conference on Language and Literature, 2001.