Reflections

Personal Statement for the Rhodes Scholarship

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Benito Mussolini’s love for the classical epic, the Aeneid, propelled him to hijack the story of a flawed hero fulfilling his destiny to then morph it into a twisted narrative supporting Italian nationalism and the Fascist regime. Literary appropriation had never been so dangerous to the general welfare of the public. As a scholar of both literature and its societal ramifications through history, one of the most infuriating things I hear from others around me is that these artifacts of culture hold no relevance to the world as it is today. I majored in both History and English at Texas A&M to cultivate my passion for analysis and exploration of what I enjoy so much. The area of literature which interests me the most in truth, is that of the Medieval period, and more specifically, Classical reception and adaptation within the late Medieval to Early Modern periods of Western Europe. My name is Ryan Ansley Malia Randle, and I aim to earn my Master of Philosophy in English Studies on the Medieval Period track from Oxford with the Rhodes Scholarship.

I want to attain my Master of Philosophy in Medieval English Studies from Oxford University for a multitude of reasons. The first of which is that while my university, and most others, offer the expertise of around three to five Medievalists within their English department, Oxford boasts dozens of different professors in this field. Furthermore, at least half a dozen of those professors have published research concerning the field of study I want to pursue. This university quite possibly has not only the best-staffed, but additionally best-funded Medieval English studies program in the world. Their Master of Philosophy study program hosts not only a wide selection of relevant language course to take including Old Norse, Galician, Welsh, Old Irish, and Classical Greek, to name a few, but also the greatest selection of Medieval manuscripts that can be observed and studied by their students. Without a doubt, Oxford University would provide me with one of the best opportunities to develop myself as a budding Medievalist scholar.

 My enthusiasm stems from the numerous courses I have taken within the History, English, and Classics departments as an undergraduate to synthesize my knowledge regarding the span of time from the beginning of the Roman Republic to the Renaissance. As of right now, I am a proficient reader in Classical and Medieval Latin, Old English, and various dialects of Middle English- ranging in difficulty from Chaucer to Gavin Douglas. Additionally, I have requested the English Department to create a directed studies linguistics course with my professor of Old English, so I can gain proficiency in Old Norse. One course that drastically changed the trajectory of my undergraduate career was “Women Writers” with Dr. Nancy Warren. Her class over female authors from the late Medieval and Early Modern periods was the one that convinced me to follow my true interests, and change my major from Political Science to History and English. Since then I have taken more courses with Dr. Warren and other faculty concerning different facets of these eras of literature- including a graduate level course titled “Readings in Medieval Literature” with Dr. Warren. 

Between my freshman and sophomore year I was selected for a highly competitive summer research seminar with the Glasscock Summer Scholars Program under Dr. Britt Mize regarding the afterlives of Beowulf and other Medieval texts within modern culture. In addition to this, I completed my honors research capstone titled “Songs of the Dying Swan” with Dr. Mize on 14th through 16th century literary adaptations of Vergil’s Aeneid to examine how the different characterizations of the relationships between the divine and mortals concerned change the way we as readers perceive the actions and character of these humans. My selection within the text extends from the first book to the end of the fourth and omitting most of the second book so that I could focus on a major area of stress for the adaptors- Aeneas’ interaction with Queen Dido. This project won the Outstanding Thesis Award from the Undergraduate Research Scholars Program in the category of Liberal Arts, Social Sciences, and the Humanities. Another research project I presented the year prior titled “The Gospel of Motherhood” won the first place prize for the Humanities category at Student Research Week at Texas A&M University. The paper focused on how various female medieval authors chose to portray women undergoing domestic violence in a selection of texts.

 Additionally, while I want to eventually obtain my PhD to be able to further my research interests, I also have a strong desire to be able to communicate and share my passion through teaching at the university level. To foster this, I partake in numerous extracurricular activities that push me to challenge my viewpoints as well as guide and mentor younger students within on-campus organizations. The first of which is my role as a University Scholar- a position which requires the ability to look at a variety of topics with a group of ten other high-achieving students from my graduating class in a group setting. Another extracurricular I affiliate myself with is the University Honors program, as within it I was a Sophomore Advisor to two large groups of freshmen and am currently the Head Junior Advisor for next year. 

Finally, I am also a member of the Academy of Undergraduate Researchers Across Texas as the liberal arts representative for both Texas A&M and the University of Texas. Through this fellowship, the other members of AURA Texas and myself had the opportunity to talk to our policy makers at Austin about our research and advocate for more funding for undergraduate research throughout the state of Texas. Participating in this group has displayed to me the importance of a student presence within the advocacy for student affairs. Through these activities I believe that I show myself to not only be an exemplary scholar, but also a leader and driving force within my campus community and beyond.