Burton Raffel
Presented By:
Jeremy Gutierrez and
Emily Salinas
Burton Raffel was born in 1928. He has
lived and worked in four different countries.
Raffel has taught English, Classics, and
Comparative Literature at universities in
the United States. Throughout his lifetime,
Raffel has published many works of
literature. Much of his books include fiction,
poetry, translations, literary and historical
criticism, teaching texts and anthologies.
Some of his translations include; Beowulf,
Horace: Odes, Epodes, Epistles, and
Satires. Burton Raffel is currently living in
Louisiana where he was a distinguished
professor at the University of Louisiana at
Lafayette until 2003.
Setting
"How wretched I was, drifting
through winter 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.” (line 14-19)
“My feet were cast in
icy bands, bound with
frost, with frozen
chains, and hardship
groaned around my
heart.” (line 8-11)
The Seafarer is a poem that
provides in depth visualization to
suffering, endurance, loneliness,
and spiritual yearning.
Speaker?
The speaker of this story
is the Seafarer. He is
addressing people in
general.
This poem originates
from the Old English
period of English
Literature 450-1100
The speaker urges
the reader in the
second section to
forget their
accomplishments
and anticipate God’s
judgment in the
afterlife.
The poem addresses
both pagan and
Christian ideas about
overcoming the sense of
suffering and loneliness.
Explicit
Summary
The basic theme of
this poem generally
focuses on sorrow
and longing for the
better days, or the
old days the man
once had.
The speaker
describes a world of
exile and loneliness
and his feelings of
alienation physically
and his suffering
both physically and
mentally.
Literary Devices
Parallelism
Lines 39-41
“ But there isn’t a man on earth
so proud, So born to greatness, so
bold with his youth,”
Lines 44-45
“No harps ring in his heart, no
rewards, No passion for women,
no worldly pleasures,”
Lines 82-83
“Now there are no rulers , no
emperors, No givers of gold, as
once there were,”
Alliteration/Similes
Metaphors
Alliteration:
Line 69
“three threats”
Simile:
Line 90
“Bent like the men
who mould it.”
Symbol/Metaphor:
The sea throughout the
entire poem is very symbolic.
It’s like a metaphor
for life itself.