The Seafarer
As you read these poems about people in exile, think about what it would be like to live away
from home, unsure of whether you will ever return.
Literary Analysis
Anglo-Saxon lyrics were composed for __________ and ____________.
scops
caesuras
kennings
assonance
alliteration
elegy
The Seafarer
Guided Reading Questions
1. Background: What Anglo-Saxon ideas of home and community explain why the
speaker feels so strongly about his exile?
2. What sufferings has the speaker endured at sea?
3. How does the alliteration of words beginning with w, r, and s affect the sound and
meaning of lines 59-62?
4. Why does the seafarer return to the sea time and again?
http://kevinclarkcomposer.com/theatrical-chamber-works/the-seafarer/
The Seafarer
Review and Assess
#3 What causes the speaker's hear to "begin to beat"? How can someone dislike
something as much as the seafarer dislikes life at sea and yet be drawn to it?
# 4 What is the seafarer's response to "harps," "rewards," "passion," and other
pleasures of life on land (lines 44-47)?
Judging from his response to these things, explain whether he is more attached to
life on land than he is to life at see.
#5 What does the speak mean when he says in lines 58-61 "And yet my heart wanders
away, / My soul roams with the sea, ... / ... returning ravenous with desire,..."?
Is the speaker fully at home on land, or at sea, or in neither place? Explain.