Reading Questions:
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What does the speaker say her subject-matter will be in this poem?
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What happened to the wife's lord that has left her alone?
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How did the man's kinfolk behave when the wife went to seek shelter with them?
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Where did the wife's lord command her to live?
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The wife "weeps her exile" when she sees what lying together?
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Why do you suppose the wife says a young person must have a "glad countenance"
even though that person experiences heart-ache?
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Consider the structure of the poem, its separate sections: does the "action" unfold
chronologically or does it pass back and forth between present and past moments? The
answers to the question in #1 partly depend on your answer to this question about
structure.
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What images strike emotional chords as you read the poem? Like the poet who wrote
"The Wanderer," this author often uses descriptions of concrete things (a landscape, the
sea) to communicate emotion. Find examples of this use of imagery to convey mood.
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How does this poem reflect the characteristics of Anglo-Saxon poetry that you learned
yesterday?