1. Anglo-Saxon poetry

2. Historical and Cultural Basis
Various groups and influences on British Isles:
Celts, Romans, Angles & Saxons & Jutes, Normans
Division to Unification:
Divided clans governed by a unified force
[Roman Empire & King Alfred (Christianity)]
Eventually solidified under the Norman King, William the Conqueror, in 1066
Oral to Written

3. Literary Concepts & Devices
The Scop (the poet-singer and later the Christian monk recording the tale) would have used various techniques [many of which are already familiar] to craft the epic tale.
Epic: meaning what? What are the constructs of an epic poem?

4. The Kenning as Variation
A Kenning is derived from Norse and Anglo-Saxon poetry. It is a stylistic device and can be defined as a metaphorical (very often of two words and may be hyphenated) phrase that replaces a concrete noun.
The ring giver = the king
Whale-road = the sea
Variation: substitution of different appositives to reference something that comes before: adds meaning, develops definition, creates function

5. Synecdoche & Metonymy
Synecdoche refers to the whole of a thing by the name of any one of its parts. For example, “all hands on deck” is a synecdoche because the “hands” are part of the person and stands for the whole human.
Metonymy, however, is when the word we use to describe another thing is closely linked to that particular thing, but is not necessarily a part of it. For example, “crown” that refers to power or authority is a metonymy used to replace the word “king” or “queen,” or “the White House” as a representation of the U.S. government.

6. Caesura
A natural pause in a line of poetry. In A-S poetry, a caesura tends to divide a four-stress line in half which provides pacing and rhythm.

7. Type, Tone, & Theme [motif]
Poetry lends itself to a variety of purposes and tones. This relies upon subject, occasion, audience, and purpose.

8. Understanding & Interpreting
T P C A S T T
Understanding & Interpreting
Poetry

9. T = title: 1st read; what could it mean
P = paraphrase: read through; what do you know? What do you need to know to make meaning?
C = connotation: diction and ALL poetic devices
A = attitude: tone; how does the speaker feel towards the subject(s) / audience
S = shift: do(es) the subject change? The tone? The mood? Where? How shown? What is the impact?
T = title for a 2nd time; relevant change?
T = theme: what is the universal message conveyed through this poem about the condition of man?

10. Translated by Burton Raffel [pages 18-25]
“The Seafarer”
Translated by
Burton Raffel
[pages 18-25]

11. This tale is true, and mine
            This tale is true, and mine. It tells              How the sea took me, swept me back              And forth in sorrow and fear and pain,              Showed me suffering in a hundred ships,  5          In a thousand ports, and in me. It tells              Of smashing surf when I sweated in the cold              Of an anxious watch, perched in the bow              As it dashed under cliffs. My feet were cast              In icy bands, bound with frost,  10        With frozen chains, and hardship groaned              Around my heart. Hunger tore              At my sea-weary soul. No man sheltered              On the quiet fairness of earth can feel              How wretched I was, drifting through winter  15        On an ice-cold sea, whirled in sorrow,              Alone in a world blown clear of love,              Hung with icicles . The hailstorms flew.              The only sound was the roaring sea,              The freezing waves. The song of the swan  20        Might serve for pleasure, the cry of the sea-fowl,              The death-noise of birds instead of laughter,              The mewing of gulls instead of mead.              Storms beat on the rocky cliffs and were echoed              By icy-feathered terns and the eagle’s screams;  25        No kinsman could offer comfort there,              To a soul left drowning in desolation.

12.             And who could believe, knowing but              The passion of cities, swelled proud with wine              And no taste of misfortune, how often, how wearily,  30        I put myself back on the paths of the sea.              Night would blacken; it would snow from the north;              Frost bound the earth and hail would fall,              The coldest seeds. And how my heart              Would begin to beat, knowing once more  35        The salt waves tossing and the towering sea!              The time for journeys would come and my soul              Called me eagerly out, sent me over              The horizon, seeking foreigners’ homes.              But there isn’t a man on earth so proud,  40        So born to greatness, so bold with his youth,              Grown so brave, or so graced by God,              That he feels no fear as the sails unfurl,              Wondering what Fate has willed and will do.            

13.   No harps ring in his heart, no rewards,  45        No passion for women, no worldly pleasures,              Nothing, only the ocean’s heave;              But longing wraps itself around him.              Orchards blossom, the towns bloom,              Fields grow lovely as the world springs fresh,  50        And all these admonish that willing mind              Leaping to journeys, always set              In thoughts traveling on a quickening tide.              So summer’s sentinel, the cuckoo, sings              In his murmuring voice, and our hearts mourn  55        As he urges. Who could understand,              In ignorant ease, what we others suffer              As the paths of exile stretch endlessly on?              And yet my heart wanders away,              My soul roams with the sea, the whales’  60        Home, wandering to the widest corners              Of the world, returning ravenous with desire,              Flying solitary, screaming, exciting me              To the open ocean, breaking oaths              On the curve of a wave.                 

14. Thus the joys of God  65        Are fervent with life, where life itself              Fades quickly into the earth. The wealth              Of the world neither reaches to Heaven nor remains.              No man has ever faced the dawn              Certain which of Fate’s three threats  70        Would fall: illness, or age, or an enemy’s              Sword, snatching the life from his soul.              The praise the living pour on the dead              Flowers from reputation: plant              An earthly life of profit reaped  75        Even from hatred and rancor, of bravery              Flung in the devil’s face, and death              Can only bring you earthly praise              And a song to celebrate a place              With the angels, life eternally blessed              In the hosts of Heaven.             

15.   80 The days are gone              When the kingdoms of earth flourished in glory;              Now there are no rulers, no emperors,              No givers of gold, as once there were,              When wonderful things were worked among them  85        And they lived in lordly magnificence.              Those powers have vanished, those pleasures are dead.              The weakest survives and the world continues,              Kept spinning by toil. All glory is tarnished.              The world’s honor ages and shrinks.  90        Bent like the men who mould it. Their faces              Blanch as time advances, their beards              Wither and they mourn the memory of friends.              The sons of princes, sown in the dust.              The soul stripped of its flesh knows nothing  95        Of sweetness or sour, feels no pain,              Bends neither its hand nor its brain. A brother              Opens his palms and pours down gold              On his kinsman’s grave, strewing his coffin              With treasures intended for Heaven, but nothing  100      Golden shakes the wrath of God              For a soul overflowing with sin, and nothing              Hidden on earth rises to Heaven.          

16. We all fear God. He turns the earth,              He set it swinging firmly in space,  105     Gave life to the world and light to the sky.              Death leaps at the fools who forget their God.              He who lives humbly has angels from Heaven              To carry him courage and strength and belief.              A man must conquer pride, not kill it,  110      Be firm with his fellows, chaste for himself,              Treat all the world as the world deserves,              With love or with hate but never with harm,              Though an enemy seek to scorch him in hell,              Or set the flames of a funeral pyre  115      Under his lord. Fate is stronger              And God mightier than any man’s mind.              Our thoughts should turn to where our home is,              Consider the ways of coming there,              Then strive for sure permission for us  120     To rise to that eternal joy,              That life born in the love of God              And the hope of Heaven. Praise the Holy              Grace of Him who honored us,              Eternal, unchanging creator of earth. Amen.  

17. Comprehension Questions
Making Meanings  First Thoughts 
1. What is your first impression of the speaker in this poem? What is his life like? What does he believe in and hope for? 
Shaping Interpretations 
2. What passages in the poem explain why the seafarer seeks the rigors of the sea rather than the delights of the land? Does he find what he looked for at sea? 
3. Lines 58–64 suggest that the poet is beginning to talk about the glories of adventuring at sea, but then he changes direction. What does he turn his attention to over the next sixteen lines? 
4. In line 80, the speaker begins to talk about the present state of the world—what does he think of it? How do these thoughts contribute to the poem’s elegiac tone? 
5. The poem ends with a statement of the poet’s beliefs. What are they? 
6. This short lyric is full of striking metaphors—for example, “frozen chains” in line 10. Select three of these metaphors, and explain what is being compared in each one. What emotional effect does each metaphor create? 
7. What do you think the seafarer is searching for? 

18. Connecting with the Text 
8. In line 88, the poem’s speaker says, “All glory is tarnished.” Do you think this idea also applies to today’s heroes and to present-day life? Explain your response. 
Extending the Text 
9. Could the sentiments expressed in this poem be applied to the homeless today? Find passages in the poem to support your answer.

21. As Translated by Seamus Heaney
from Beowulf
As Translated by
Seamus Heaney

22. Beowulf Translation by Seamus Heaney
So.  The Spear-Danes in days gone by
And the kings who ruled them had courage and greatness.
We have heard of those princes’ heroic campaigns.
There was Shield Sheafson, scourge of many tribes,
A wrecker of mead-benches, rampaging among foes.
This terror of the hall-troops had come far.
A foundling to start with, he would flourish later on
As his powers waxed and his worth was proved.
In the end each clan on the outlying coasts
Beyond the whale-road had to yield to him                                       10
And begin to pay tribute.  That was one good king.

23. Afterwards a boy-child was born to Shield,
A cub in the yard, a comfort sent
By God to that nation. He knew what they had tholed,
The long times and troubles they’d come through
Without a leader; so the Lord of Life,
The glorious Almighty, made this man renowned.
Shield had fathered a famous son:
Beow’s name was known through the north.
And a young prince must be prudent like that,
Giving freely while his father lives
So that afterwards in age when fighting starts
Steadfast companions will stand beside him
And hold the line. Behavior that’s admired
Is the path to power among people everywhere.

24. Shield was still thriving when his time came And he crossed over into the Lord’s keeping. His warrior band did what he bade them When he laid down the law among the Danes: They shouldered him out to the sea’s flood, 30 The chief they revered who had long ruled them. A ring-whorled prow rode in the harbour, Ice-clad, outbound, a craft for a prince. They stretched their beloved lord in his boat, Laid out by the mast, amidships, The great ring-giver. Far-fetched treasures Were piled upon him, and precious gear. I never heard before of a ship so well furbished With battle tackle, bladed weapons And coats of mail.

25. The massed treasure
Was loaded on top of him: it would travel far
On out into the ocean’s sway.
They decked his body no less bountifully
With offerings than those first ones did
Who cast him away when he was a child
And launched him alone out over the waves.
And they set a gold standard up
High above his head and let him drift
To wind and tide, bewailing him
And mourning their loss. No man can tell,
No wise man in hall or weathered veteran
Knows for certain who salvaged that load.

26. Then it fell to Beow to keep the forts.
He was well regarded and ruled the Danes
For a long time after his father took leave
Of his life on earth. And then his heir,
The great Halfdane, held sway
For as long as he lived, their elder and warlord.
He was four times a father, this fighter prince:
One by one they entered the world,
Heorogar, Hrothgar, the good Halga
And a daughter, I have heard, who was Onela’s queen,
A balm in bed to the battle-scarred Swede.

27. The fortunes of war favored Hrothgar
The fortunes of war favored Hrothgar. Friends and kinsmen flocked to his ranks, Young followers, a force that grew To be a mighty army. So his mind turned To hall-building: he handed down orders For men to work on a great mead-hall Meant to be a wonder of the world forever; 70 It would be his throne-room and there he would dispense His God-given goods to young and old--- But not the common land or people’s lives.

28. Far and wide through the world, I have heard,
Orders for work to adorn that wall stead
Were sent to many peoples. And soon it stood there,
Finished and ready, in full view,
The hall of halls. Heorot was the name
He had settled on it, whose utterance was law.
Nor did he renege, but doled out rings
And torques at the table. The hall towered,
Its gables wide and high and awaiting
A barbarous burning. That doom abided,
But in time it would come: the killer instinct
Unleashed among in-laws, the blood-lust rampant.

29. Herot Attacked Then a powerful demon, a prowler through the dark,
Nursed a hard grievance. It harrowed him
To hear the din of the loud banquet
Every day in the hall, the harp being struck
And the clear song of a skilled poet
Telling with mastery of man’s beginnings,
How the Almighty had made the earth
A gleaming plain girdled with waters;
In His splendor He set the sun and moon
To be earth’s lamplight, lanterns for men,
And filled the broad lap of the world
With branches and leaves; and quickened life
In every other thing that moved.