'… 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
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.