Becoming a Poet in Anglo-Saxon England

A groundbreaking study of pre-Conquest English poets that rethinks the social role of Anglo-Saxon verse.

Emily V. Thornbury (Author)

9781107051980, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 30 January 2014

338 pages, 10 b/w illus. 1 map
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.1 cm, 0.63 kg

'… Thornbury's book is excellent and should be mandatory reading for all scholars and students of Anglo-Saxon literature. Her analysis of individual poetic creations is always precise, innovative, and fascinating.' Samantha Zacher, Journal of English and Germanic Philology

Combining historical, literary and linguistic evidence from Old English and Latin, Becoming a Poet in Anglo-Saxon England creates a new, more complete picture of who and what pre-Conquest English poets really were. It includes a study of Anglo-Saxon words for 'poet' and the first list of named poets in Anglo-Saxon England. Its survey of known poets identifies four social roles that poets often held - teachers, scribes, musicians and courtiers - and explores the kinds of poetry created by these individuals. The book also offers a new model for understanding the role of social groups in poets' experience: it argues that the presence or absence of a poetic community affected the work of Anglo-Saxon poets at all levels, from minute technical detail to the portrayal of character. This focus on poetic communities provides a new way to understand the intersection of history and literature in the Middle Ages.

Introduction: how can we know about Anglo-Saxon poets?
1. What was a poet?
2. Who became poets?
3. The poet in the community
4. The poet alone
5. Spectral communities
Afterword: a way of happening
Appendix I. A handlist of named authors of Old English or Latin verse in Anglo-Saxon England
Appendix II. Skalds working in Anglo-Saxon England
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: poetry & poets [DSC], Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB]