Medieval literature is a passion that has enveloped me since I read Chrétien de Troyes’ Lancelot during my freshman year. In this Arthurian romance, Chrétien represents Lancelot as conflicted—a chivalrous knight whom one expects to find only in myth, yet in violation of the code of honor, desirous of his lord’s queen. I began thinking of the tales of the Arthurian knights as more than legendary—as potentially credible historical accounts. Soon, I wrote a paper on Gawain’s rhetoric as a means to elicit specific responses in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Gawain’s rhetorical strategies and their manipulations ultimately lead him to a deeper personal recognition and self-acceptance. This early exercise alerted me to the pleasures of working with languages of the Middle Ages. My academic interest in Celtic Studies was piqued when I learned of Ogam stones in my Literature in the Natural World class. Ogam is not a spoken language, rather, a code of inscriptions that gave the Irish language an alphabet and supplied the Irish people with a means of writing on stone, wood, and other natural elements with relative ease. Ogam is also found in many manuscripts, where it is both written and read in a manner different from that employed when it is found on stones. As an aspiring academic in Medieval Literature, I recognize that knowledge of the literature of medieval cultures is vitally important. Irish literature, including Ogam inscriptions and manuscripts, is therefore essential to a medieval scholar. The Frenchman Gregory of Tours said of the humanities in medieval Europe, “Culture and education are dying out in every city in Gaul . . . People often complain ‘Alas for our times, literacy is dying among us.’” While Gregory’s testimony may have been true for much of Europe, where culture floundered in the midst of war, he neglected to speak of Ireland, the country where literature and language flourished during this era and later became known as the “Land of Saints and Scholars.” Three of the most impressive medieval manuscripts were created in Ireland: The Gospels of St. Willibrord, which is on display in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, The Book of Kells, and The Book of Durrow, both of which are displayed in Trinity University’s Library. Last May I had the pleasure of meeting with Professor Damian McManus, head of Trinity University’s School of Irish, who presented me with a copy of his book A Guide to Ogam. I met with him to discuss the graduate opportunities available in Old and Middle Irish Language and Literature at Trinity University. Dr. McManus has many research initiatives, although these are open only to students who have previously worked with Early Irish studies. During our meeting, he suggested that I first conduct my studies with Dr. Kim McCone at the National University of Ireland at Maynooth, and then return to Trinity where I can further pursue a research degree under his guidance. After obtaining the necessary fundamentals of Old and Middle Irish language, I will be better equipped to study Ogam stones and to read the inscriptions, which would enable me to study another field of academia: epigraphy.