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.
Author(s): Emily V. Thornbury
Series: Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2014
Language: English
Pages: XII+322
List of figures and tables -- Acknowledgements -- Abbreviations -- 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 -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index
