Becoming a Poet in Anglo-Saxon England

Emily V. Thornbury

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781107051980
• eBook ISBN: 9781139699358
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: English Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

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.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Becoming a Poet in Anglo-Saxon England
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Contents
• Figures and tables
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations
• Introduction How can we know about Anglo-Saxon poets?
• Chapter 1 What was a poet?
• Chapter 2 Who became poets?
• Chapter 3 The poet in the community
• Chapter 4 The poet alone
• Chapter 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
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index