Assignment #1 Module #1

Old English Poetry: The Seafarer

Name: _____________________________________________Course:___________

Directions:
Download the file: The Seafarer. Read and understand the poem. Answer the questions briefly, and
submit the answers in pdf file.

A. Understanding Anglo-Saxon Poetry

This is a lyric poem that express intense personal poem. It expresses mixed feelings of
Reliance to God and with Christian beliefs. At times, the poets feeling seem to birder on despair.
1. What are the three images the poet uses in the first stanza to convey his sense of isolation?
2. The poet names three (3) threats. What are they?
3. a. In the poem, what happens to fools when they forget their God?
b. What happens to those who live humbly?

B. Interpreting the poem

4. How might you explain the mixed feelings about the sea that the poet seems to feel?
5. Pagans in Anglo Saxon England-non Christians-felt themselves at the mercy of forces utterly beyond
their control, while Christians put their trusts in salvation and heaven. In line #39 to #43, show the
influence of both beliefs.
6. Explain the lines #66 & #67, “The wealth of the world neither reaches to heaven nor remains”
7. The Seafarer is a poem of Contrast. What contrast is implied in lines #80 to #102?
8. What does the poet mean by the word home in line #117?

C. Application

8. Explain how a person can dislike something as much as the sailor dislikes life at sea and yet keep going
back to it.

D. Understanding Language

A few English words still appear in the dictionary but are seldom used anymore. Find the meanings of
the following words. Use them in sentence.

1. Churl 2. thane 3. Tor 4. Yare 5. Yclept.