Transcript The Seafarer

The Seafarer
Anglo-Saxon Poetry
Old English
• The seafarer Anglo - Saxon – YouTube
• Anglo-Saxons.net : The Seafarer
– What words do you recognize?
– The poems do not match word for
word…why?
Literary Terms
1. Caesuras – pause in a line; indicates a
pause for a breath (you have a handout
on this)
2. Alliteration joins the 2 parts of the
line…repetition of sound
3. Kennings – metaphorical phrases
ex: “summer’s sentinel” means a cuckoo
* you need to be able to recognize
examples of these literary terms
Literary Analysis
• This poem demonstrates:
– the balance between the Anglo-Saxon belief in fate,
where everything is grim and overpowering
(remember what we said about the afterlife?), and
the Christian believer’s reliance on God (remember
what we talked about regarding the Christian belief of
the afterlife)
• Land = safety and security
• Sea = hardship and struggle, BUT the speaker is
drawn to it b/c it brings him closer to God
• “home” = heaven / closer to God
Literary Analysis
• Controversy in the Literary World…
– Are there 2 speakers in this poem?
• The first speaker makes a complaint
• The second speaker comments on this complaint
– The second speaker emphasizes the relationship with the
divine
…OR…
Is this a soliloquy…(think Shakespeare if you can’t
remember what a soliloquy is) ??
Literary Analysis
• Lines 1-5
– Elegiac
• Elegy - a poem, song, or other work of art
composed as a lament for someone who has died
 This
is a mournful, contemplative poem
 Mourns the loss of someone
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o Limitless suffering, sorrow, pain
o Personal self-revelation to come
Literary Analysis
• Lines 6-11
– Concrete Images : the cold, stormy seas,
rugged shorelines
– Idea of imprisonment
– Physically and Spiritually
• What words show that he is suffering both
physically and spiritually?
Literary Analysis
• Lines 12-16
– A person on land does not know what a
mariner has to endure
• Lines?
• LONELINESS
In Lines 17-19 : The speaker returns to the
description of weather conditions
Literary Analysis
• Lines 20-26
– Catalogs
– 4 Types of Birds…what are they?
• These only increase his sense of abandonment
What does the drowning metaphor refer to?
Literary Analysis
• By the conclusion…
– Those who walk with _________ will be rewarded
– Why does the speaker continue to live the life at sea?
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Where are there elements of Paganism? Christianity?
How is this an elegy?