Professor Dr. Emily Thornbury

Biography

Emily Thornbury is an Associate Professor in the English department at the University of California, Berkeley, specializing in Old English and Anglo-Latin literature. Her research explores the early theories of aesthetics and how the social circumstances of poetry composition influenced literary form and expectations. Thornbury's notable publication includes her book 'Becoming Poet in Anglo-Saxon England' (Cambridge University Press, 2014), which examines the lives of individuals composing verse in England prior to the Norman Conquest. Currently, she is completing a book titled 'Virtue Ornament', which investigates nonclassical aesthetic principles in early medieval English art and literature and their transformative effects. Thornbury has contributed extensively to edited collections and journals, with writings that engage with the intricate intersections between classical aesthetics and early medieval literary practices, shedding light on alternative modes of reading and interpreting art during that period.

Research Interests