Despite the work of scholars like Édouard Jeauneau and Paul Edward Dutton the philosophical and literary quality of Eriugena's poetry has sometimes been underrated. The aesthetics, of course, differ from modern expectations, but more importantly, there has often been little sensitivity to the dual functions of an early medieval poetic idiom which combines poetry and philosophy. Colnago's broadly conceived new monograph aims at redressing that imbalance. It consists of two parts. The first half of the book covers the historical background to Eriugena's poetry. Colnago describes the cultural and theological context (pp. 9–74), for example the contemporary discourse on the eucharist and predestination, and situates therein the life and works of the Irish philosopher (pp. 75–129). He neatly summarises the landscape. In the second part, Colnago focuses on the carmina in particular. These chapters offer new insights. After a short introduction to the poetic corpus of Eriugena (pp. 133–46), with basic information on the textual transmission and criticism, Colnago analyses each surviving poem (pp. 147–255) and explains its main philosophical and theological features (pp. 257–90). He demonstrates that a broad range of Eriugenian ideas (like his Christology and theory of creation) are topics of the carmina – not occasionally, but regularly. By way of conclusion, he adds some remarks on sources, language and style (pp. 291–351), broadening the philological apparatus to these challenging, yet fascinating texts. The book helps us to a deeper appreciation of Eriugena as a writer and thinker, especially by showing how the carmina are not merely incidental artefacts, but should figure as integral pieces in our understanding of his philosophical project. Colnago provides a highly useful resource for launching or enriching an exploration of Eriugena and for reassessing the central place of poetry in Carolingian thought in general.