1. “The Seafarer,” “The Wanderer,” & “The Wife’s Lament
Anglo-Saxon Poetry
“The Seafarer,” “The Wanderer,” & “The Wife’s Lament

2. “The Seafarer” A seafarer who drifts away from human companionship
What is this poem about?
A seafarer who drifts away from human companionship
Even though he is “drowning in desolation” he continues to return to the sea
Life no matter where it is spent is exile
The only home is heaven

3. “The Seafarer” Regular Rhythms
“This tale is true, and mine. It tells”
“But there isn’t a man on earth so proud”
Purpose to oral tradition: helps with memorization of lines

4. “The Seafarer” Kennings
Eagle’s screams: caw
Summer’s sentinel: the cuckoo
The whale’s home: the sea
Purpose to oral tradition: poetic words used for imagery and memorization

5. “The Seafarer” Assonance
“To the open ocean, breaking oaths”
Purpose to oral tradition: helps with rhythm and memorization

6. “The Seafarer” Alliteration
“This tale is true, and mine. It tells”
“My soul roams with the sea, the whales
Home, wandering to the widest corners
Of the world, returning ravenous with desire,
Flying solitary, screaming…”
Provides rhythm and repetition

7. “The Seafarer” Theme Wandering
With the Anglo-Saxon belief of home, to be wandering was to have nothing
Exile The Anglo-Saxons did not have patriotism to their country, but to their lord, so to be exiled was to be forsaken and they feared this

8. Elegy & Lyrics
Lyrical Poetry expresses the thoughts and feeling of a single speaker's life
Elegiac Poetry a type of lyric poetry where the loss of someone or something is mourned

9. Question
How is “The Seafarer” an example of elegiac poetry and lyrical poetry?

10. “The Wanderer” What is this poem about?
Wanderer has experienced a complete collapse
His lord died
He has no purpose
He has no one to promise his loyalty to
He is left to wander in search of a new lord

11. “The Wanderer” Kenning
Lines 20-26
How does the kenning “gold-lord” help you infer the wanderer’s goal?

12. “The Wanderer” Kenning Answer
Suggests wander’s livelihood is intimately connected with his having a lord, or one who will provide him with gold, or money.

13. “The Wanderer” Alliteration and Assonance
Read lines 87-92
What images and ideas do alliteration and assonance bind together in these lines?

14. Answer
Alliteration: “walls wondrous high,” serpent shapes,” and “carnage…and conquering fate”
Assonance: “warriors” with “memorials”

15. “The Wanderer” Caesura
How are caesuras used in “The Wanderer?”
Why are caesuras used?

16. “The Wanderer” Caesura Answer
They are breaks in the middle of a line
Add to rhythmic element, add to meaning they either echo an idea or oppose an idea

17. “The Wanderer” Theme
Isolation

18. “The Wife’s Lament” Overview
Speaker has been sent into exile by her husband.
She still longs for her husband
She is angry and bitter about her friendless, lonely, joyless fate she must endure.
Be able to answer essential question on pg. 31