Editing Scop (section)

{{Short description|Poet as represented in Old English poetry}}
[[File:A minstrel sings of famous deeds by J. R. Skelton c 1910.jpg|thumb|[[Old English literature#Poetry|Old English poetry]] such as ''[[Beowulf]]'' was composed for performance; it is widely supposed that this meant it was chanted by a scop to musical accompaniment. Illustration by [[Joseph Ratcliffe Skelton]], c. 1910]]
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A '''{{lang|ags|scop}}''' ({{IPAc-en|ʃ|ɒ|p}}<ref name="Bahn">{{Cite book |title=A History of Oral Interpretation |last1=Bahn |first1=Eugene |last2=Bahn |first2=Margaret |publisher=Burgess Publishing |year=1970 |location=Minneapolis |pages=56}}</ref> or {{IPAc-en|s|k|ɒ|p}}<ref>{{cite web | title=Pronunciation: /ʃɒp/ /skɒp/ | website=oed.com | date=2020-12-10 | url=http://oed.com/view/Entry/172966?redirectedFrom=scop# | access-date=2020-12-31}}</ref>) was a poet as represented in [[Old English literature#Poetry|Old English poetry]]. The scop is the Old English counterpart of the [[Old Norse]] ''{{lang|non|[[skald]]}}'', with the important difference that "skald" was applied to historical persons, and scop is used, for the most part, to designate oral poets ''within'' Old English literature. Very little is known about scops, and their historical existence is questioned by some scholars.