Transcript The Seafarer - Indian Land High School

Literary Terms
 Lyric
poem: a poem that expresses the
observations and feelings of a single
speaker

elegy, ode, sonnet
 metaphor:
a figure of speech in which one
thing is spoken of as though it were
something else

“my thoughts no longer hover…resting their
wings”
The Seafarer
12.3 and 12.5
Narrative Situation
 Who
is the speaker?
 Who is he speaking to?
 What is he speaking about?
 What is his attitude?
 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.
Two-Part Structure
 dividing
line is verse 64
 Part One

impressionistic description of a sailor’s
life
 Part

Two
homiletic treatment of the sense of life
• Homily is a sermon or a lecture
Symbol
How might the first half of the poem
be an allegory that is explained by
the second half?
Sailor= one who sacrifices himself for
his spiritual ideals
Sea= the harder life the soul accepts
when it gives up pleasure for the sake
of God.
Land= the pleasures of life; desires of
Images
What are three images the poet uses in the
first stanza to convey his sense of
isolation?
1.
3.
“of smashing surf when I sweated in the
cold of an anxious watch, perched in the
bow” (6-7)
2. “On an ice-cold sea, whirled in
sorrow...Hung with icicles.” (15-17)
“Storms beat on the rocky cliffs and were
echoed by ice-feathered terns and the
eagle’s screams;” (23-24)
Figures of Speech
 Alliteration


“Of smashing surf when I sweated in the cold”
(line 6)
“Grown so brave, or so graced by God,” (line 41)
 Kenning




“coldest seeds”= hail (line 33)
“summer’s sentinel”= the cuckoo (line 53)
“the whale’s home”= the sea (lines 59-60)
“givers of gold” = kings (line 83)
More Figures of Speech
 Caesura

“This tale is true,//and mine. It tells” (1)
 Metaphor


“Orchards blossom, the towns bloom,” (43)
“Their faces blanch as time advances, their
beards wither and they mourn…” (90-91)
 Simile

“bent like the men who mold it”
Tone and Theme
How might you explain the mixed feelings
about the sea that the poet seems to feel?
 The poet loves the excitement of ocean
travel and visiting foreign lands BUT he
recognizes the danger and loneliness
seafaring entails
 In what way do lines 39-43 show the
influence of both the Pagan and Christian
beliefs?
 Line 41 implies a belief that God bestows
grace and protection yet line 43 indicates a
belief in Fate and a lack of protection from
fate’s whims

The Seafarer – literary criticism

Rosemary Woolf believes the following:
“”…the man who lives a life on land is always
in a state of security and contentment: he is
therefore mindless of the Christian image of
man as an exile; …The sea, however, is
always a place of isolation and hardship: the
man, therefore, who chooses to be literally
what in Christian terms he is figuratively, must
forsake the land and live upon the sea.”
What is a common thread for all
three poems?
 Think
about the form: ELEGY
 What does an ELEGY do? MOURN
SOMETHING
 What is each poem mourning?
Compare to The Wanderer
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 Wanderer
The lord-retainer relaionship – losing one’s lord =
losing one’s place in society, warm joys vs sleet,
wind and cold: winter
 „Where is the feasting place? Where the
pleasures of the hall?”
 „I mourn the gleaming cup, the warrior in his
corselet / the glory of the prince”
 „the world beneath the heavens is in the hands
of fate” (wyrd) vs „it is best for a man to seek
mercy and comfort from the Father in heaven”
 Ideal of steadfast/brave/wise man – resignation
and melancholy
Compare to The Wife’s Lament
 Common
theme of exile from one’s lord
 Plight of a woman in Anglo-Saxon society
 Loneliness of separation from tribe
 Lack of power/autonomy
 Grief of exile, betrayal
 Unlike The Seafarer and The Wanderer,
no consolation of Christian beliefs to
comfort her (Think: Why?)
 What could “the den of earth” symbolize?