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• The following version of this poem was used to create this Lesson Plan: “The Seafarer.” Translated by R.M. Liuzza. The Broadview Anthology of British Literature, Vol. 1: The Medieval Period, edited by Joseph Black et al., Broadview P, 2007, 19-20.

• Notes regarding the Exeter Book are also available on pages 16 and 17 of the anthology.

• The narrator, presumably masculine, announces his intent to rehearse a story of his travels, remarking “I sing a true song of myself, / tell of my journeys” (ll. 1-2).

• He notes the tension of cold weather and hot emotions within him (ll. 2-12).

• The narrator comments with some aspersion on those who do not travel, how they do not understand the dangers and travails of the journey abroad (ll. 12-17).

• The narrator makes much of the sounds of the sea and of birds—swans, gannets, curlews, seagulls, terns, and eagles (ll. 19-24)—ringing in...

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