1. The Seafarer
Anglo-Saxon Poetry

2. Old English The seafarer Anglo - Saxon – YouTube
Anglo-Saxons.net : The Seafarer
What words do you recognize?
The poems do not match word for word…why?

3. Literary Terms
Caesuras – pause in a line; indicates a pause for a breath (you have a handout on this)
Alliteration joins the 2 parts of the line…repetition of sound
Kennings – metaphorical phrases
ex: “summer’s sentinel” means a cuckoo
* you need to be able to recognize examples of these literary terms

4. Literary Analysis This poem demonstrates:
the balance between the Anglo-Saxon belief in fate, where everything is grim and overpowering (remember what we said about the afterlife?), and the Christian believer’s reliance on God (remember what we talked about regarding the Christian belief of the afterlife)
Land = safety and security
Sea = hardship and struggle, BUT the speaker is drawn to it b/c it brings him closer to God
“home” = heaven / closer to God

5. Literary Analysis Controversy in the Literary World…
Are there 2 speakers in this poem?
The first speaker makes a complaint
The second speaker comments on this complaint
The second speaker emphasizes the relationship with the divine
…OR…
Is this a soliloquy…(think Shakespeare if you can’t remember what a soliloquy is) ??

6. Literary Analysis Lines 1-5 Elegiac
Elegy - a poem, song, or other work of art composed as a lament for someone who has died
This is a mournful, contemplative poem
Mourns the loss of someone
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Limitless suffering, sorrow, pain
Personal self-revelation to come

7. Literary Analysis Lines 6-11
Concrete Images : the cold, stormy seas, rugged shorelines
Idea of imprisonment
Physically and Spiritually
What words show that he is suffering both physically and spiritually?

8. Literary Analysis Lines 12-16
A person on land does not know what a mariner has to endure
Lines?
LONELINESS
In Lines : The speaker returns to the description of weather conditions

9. Literary Analysis Lines 20-26 Catalogs 4 Types of Birds…what are they?
These only increase his sense of abandonment
What does the drowning metaphor refer to?

10. Literary Analysis By the conclusion…
Those who walk with _________ will be rewarded
Why does the speaker continue to live the life at sea?
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Where are there elements of Paganism? Christianity?
How is this an elegy?