KEY “The Wanderer” – During Reading 2 Column Notes
Questions
1)(Stanza 3-Line23) Identify the kenning.
2)How does the kenning “gold-lord” help you
understand the wanderer’s goal? (p.21)
3)What is the wanderer’s situation? (bottom p.21
line 31)
4)(Lines 45-49)What does the wanderer imagine?
(top p.23)
5) Elegy. How is the passage elegiac? (elegy = a
lyric poem mourning the loss of someone or
something) (top p.23)
6) (Lines 55-65) How does your knowledge of
Anglo Saxon life help you appreciate the mood of
these lines? (p.23) Think about what you know
about Anglo-Saxon worldview (beliefs and ideas).
7) On what aspect of life does the wanderer
reflect? (bottom p. 23)
8) Alliteration and assonance are used for what?
(making the poem entertaining and memorable
and also….for connecting ideas)
What images and ideas do alliteration and
assonance bind together in lines 87-92?
9) How are the caesura’s (pause) indicated on the
page?
AFTER READING
10) Why does the wanderer go into exile? (#3a pg
24)
11) What images does the poet use to convey his
isolation and despair? (3b)
12) What are the “the fates of men” on which the
Answers
Gold-lord
The kenning suggests that the wanderer’s
livelihood is intimately connected with his having a
lord, or one who will provide him w/gold or money
Wanderer is bereft (lacking/missing) because his
lord has died (Line 21 “When the dark earth
covered my dear lord’s face...Line 9 “Lonely and
wretched” … Line22 “So I sailed away with
sorrowful heart”), and he is left lonely without
means to support himself (Line 23 “…over wintry
seas seeking a gold-lord”… Line 28-29 “his fortune
is exile not gifts of fine gold”) or hope of enjoying
himself in his lord’s company (Line 28 “When
friends are no more”)
He imagines his comrades before him. The
wanderer greets them, but they disappear without
returning the greeting. (“forms of his kinsmen”…
“in (joy) he greets them”… “but they melt into air”)
Deals with sorrow over that which is lost. (he has
lost his lord, kin, friends, home, and the generosity
of his king)
The wanderer expresses a contentment
(satisfaction) with fate and an appreciation for the
wisdom that comes through experience (Line 5960 “No man may know wisdom until many a
winter has been his portion”), which are in keeping
with Anglo-Saxon values of accepting one’s destiny
and proving oneself in courage and bravery.
The passage of time and of all the things and
people that have been lost to death and decay.
(Line 70 “the battlements crumble, the wine-halls
decay” … Line 76 “sadly gave to the grave’s
embrace”)
Alliteration - Wall wondrous high, serpent shapes,
carnage and conquering fate,
Assonance – Warriors’ and memorials
By a space mid-line
Because his lord died and he is searching for a new
gold-lord
Darkness, winter, wind-tossed seas, and crumbling
walls
The fact that death claims everyone
KEY “The Wanderer” – During Reading 2 Column Notes
wanderer reflects? (4a)
13) Why might the wanderer’s own experiences
have led him to such brooding thoughts? (4b)
His grief at the death of his lord causes him to
ponder the deaths of all men.