Daniel holds a DPhil and MPhil from Oxford University, where he received the Clarendon Fund Scholarship and the Merton College English Prize. He has a BA in English Literature from Durham University.

His research looks at theories of poetry and metapoetics in the later Middle Ages. He has taught as tutor of medieval literature at several Oxford colleges and is currently the Membership Secretary and Treasurer of the Early English Text Society.

He and his wife have two children.