Name ______Date ______
Anglo-Saxon Poetry
Comprehension & Discussion Questions
Directions: Answer the following questions in complete sentences unless prompted to list. Always use the text to support your answers, whether you paraphrase or directly quote lines. Use line numbers to identify where you gleaned your evidence.
Excerpt from “The Seafarer”
1. What emotions does the seafarer express when he embarks on a sea voyage?
2. Why do you think the seafarer chose a life at sea in spite of its hardships? (Look at the feelings he expresses in lines 58-64, the problems noted in lines 81-102, and the view of fate expressed at the end.)
3. Why do you think the seafarer tells the audience about his life and hardships? Remember to cite details from the poem to support your opinion.
“The Wanderer”
1. How did the title’s character become a wanderer?
2. What is the mood of the poem? (i.e. How does the narrator want the audience to feel?) Explain by using examples of word choice from the text that support the mood you chose.
3. Do you agree with the attitude of grief expressed in lines 12-16? Why or why not? (Take a look at lines 17-22 and 90-108 to understand why the narrator is grieved and what he is grieving.)
“The Wife’s Lament”
1. What happened after the wife’s husband went to sea?
2. Why do the husband and wife live apart?
3. How would you describe the wife’s opinion of her husband’s behavior? Look at the influence of her husband’s relatives, the vow that they made to each other, and the wife’s thoughts in lines 42-50.
All together now!
1. What is a common theme that you can draw from these three poems? How does this theme help you to understand Anglo-Saxon culture on the level of the average person (in contrast to royalty like Beowulf)?
2. Take a look at the metaphor in lines 5-7 of memory being a “port” in “The Wanderer”. Explain the metaphor and identify how this specific imagery can give insight into the Anglo-Saxon way of life.
3. Since the Anglo-Saxons merged their pagan beliefs with those of Christianity when they were the dominant inhabitants of the British Isles (449-1066), it is common to find a fusion of those beliefs in Anglo-Saxon literature. Go back to the poems and identify what this fusion looks like. Remember to cite evidence from the texts to support your answer (also identify line numbers and titles to avoid confusion).
4. List three kennings from any of the three poems and identify what they mean.