“The Seafarer”
“The Wanderer”
“The Wife’s Lament”
Study Guide
Unit 1: Part 1 Study Guide
• The phrase “summer’s sentinel” is used to describe the cuckoo.
What literary device is this?
• “The song of the swan/Might serve for pleasure…” from “The
Seafarer” What characteristic from Anglo-Saxon poetry is
illustrated in this line?
• What is the subject of the first part of “The Seafarer”?
• Why do you think so many poems of this period are about
wandering and exile?
• Why did the speaker in “The Wanderer” leave his home?
Unit 1: Part 1 Study Guide
• What is the theme of “The Wanderer”?
• What does the narrator of “The Wanderer” miss the most?
• Why did Anglo-Saxon poetry use the caesura?
• What does the wife think her husband is doing in “The Wife’s
Lament”?
• “My lord commanded me to move my dwelling here.” What
aspect of Anglo-Saxon life does this line from “The Wife’s
Lament” suggest?
Unit 1: Part 1 Study Guide
• In “The Wife’s Lament,” how does the wife assume her husband is now
feeling?
• Which characteristic of Anglo-Saxon poetry is illustrated by “The Seafarer”?
• What initiated the wife’s exile in “The Wife’s Lament”?
• What is the reason, despite all the hardships he’s suffered, that the narrator in
“The Seafarer” continues to follow the life of the sea?
• Which of these elements from “The Seafarer” is the most characteristic of lyric
poetry?
– Regular rhythm and rhyme
– Strong reliance on figurative language
– Intense person emotion
– Narrative structure
Unit 1: Part 1 Study Guide
• What vocabulary word would best complete the sentence? The
Seafarer had no _______________ toward the lord he served.
• What vocabulary word would best complete the sentence? The
________________ stood watch over the entrance to the castle.
• What vocabulary word would best complete the sentence? The
________________ man always attempted to help others in need.
• Know the meanings of the following words: rapture,
compassionate, fervent, admonish
Unit 1: Part 1 Study Guide
• How would you describe the speaker’s message at the end of
“The Seafarer”?
• What words or phrases from the following lines help you
recognize the historical context of the line?
– “Be he outlawed far/in a strange folk-land---that my beloved sits/under a
rocky cliff rimed with frost/a lord dreary in spirit.”
Unit 1: Part 1 Study Guide: Essay
Questions, PICK ONE
1. Know the historical context of a piece of poetry can help you
understand many poems. Choose one of the Anglo-Saxon poems in
this group. In an essay, explain how knowing the historical context of
the poem gives you clues to its meaning. Answer these questions:
What historical points are mentioned in the poem? How is the speaker
affected by these historical points? How do you feel about the
speaker and the events he or she experiences? Use at least two
details from the poem to help you respond.
2. Anglo-Saxons believed that human life is shaped by fate. An
individual’s wishes and actions could not always change a person’s
fate. Choose one of the poems in this group. Explain how the speaker
is influenced by a belief in fate. Give at least two examples from the
poem to support your ideas.
3. In the three texts, “The Seafarer,” “The Wanderer,” and “The Wife’s
Lament,” the speaker has lost his or her home. Choose one poem,
and in an essay, describe the home the speaker has lost.
Unit 1: Part 1 HONORS Study Guide:
Essay Questions
1. A fundamental Anglo-Saxon belief is that human life is shaped
by fate. How is this belief reflected in the poems in this section?
Answer this question in an essay, giving examples from one or
more of the poems to support explanation.
2. Most of the poems and stories of the Anglo-Saxon period were
passed along by the oral tradition. In an essay, tell how the use
of features such as kenning and caesura may have helped
maintain this oral tradition. Illustrate your explanation with
examples from the selections.
3. In the three texts, “The Seafarer,” “The Wanderer,” and “The
Wife’s Lament,” the speaker has lost his or her home. Choose
one poem, and in an essay, describe the home the speaker has
lost.