Transcript The Seafarer PowerPoint

The Seafarer
Translated by Burton Raffel
Composed by an unknown poet
Part of The Exeter
Book
The Exeter Book was given to Exeter
Cathedral in the 11th century. It
contained a collection of Anglo-Saxon
manuscripts.
The Seafarer – the cold,
hard facts
 Can be considered an elegy, or mournful,
contemplative poem.
 Can also be considered a planctus, or
“complaint.” This would involve a
fictional speaker and a subject that may
be loss other than death.
 Regardless, the expression of strong
emotion is the key.
The Seafarer – the cold,
hard facts cont.

What the poem has that most AngloSaxon poems also have:
1. Caesuras – pause in a line
2. Alliteration joins the 2 parts of the line
3. Kennings – metaphorical phrases
The Seafarer – the cold,
hard facts
 Caesura and alliteration in action
“The only sound / was the roaring sea”
 Kennings
“coldest seeds” = hail
“givers of gold” = Anglo-Saxon kings
The Seafarer – the cold,
hard facts
 A wraecca tells his tale; he is at sea. (A
“wraecca” was a person who had been
exiled from his community.)
 Poem highlights the balance between the
Anglo-Saxon belief in fate, where
everything is grim and overpowering, and
the Christian believer’s reliance on God.
The Seafarer – the cold,
hard facts
 The land represents safety and security.
 The sea represents hardship and
struggle, but the man is drawn to it
because it brings him closer to God. The
sea represents the power of God.
 “Home” represents heaven or being
closer to God.
The Seafarer – literary
criticism
 Some believe that the poem has 2
speakers. One who makes a personal
“complaint” and a second who
comments on the condition described by
the first.
 The second speaker emphasizes man’s
relationship with the divine rather than
one man’s personal plight.