<p>I know this is completely out of the blue, but have you considered Berkeley? I met a guy at a wine dinner last year who was entering a Masters/Ph.D. program in Berkeley’s English Dept. focusing on Midievel language and literature (poetry mostly I think) … it’s not my field, but it sounded like his interest was the period commencing just after Beowulf but before Chaucer. As I recall he started at a college I didn’t recognize, then transferred to Columbia to finish undergrad.</p>
<p>I would think that connecting with a faculty mentor at Berkeley with a long term research goal in mind might be fruitful.</p>