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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does "The Seafarer" learn that ships are homes of?
(a) Saddness.
(b) Hope.
(c) Solitude.
(d) Honesty.

2. According to the author, what did Anglo-Saxons fail to do for their poetry?
(a) Follow the "code".
(b) Title them.
(c) Honor God.
(d) Pay hommage to their past.

3. According to the author in the introduction what (other than "Beowulf") is the best -known Anglo-Saxon poem?
(a) "The Wanderer."
(b) "The Seafarer."
(c) "The Husband's Message."
(d) "The Wife's Lament."

4. What is the oldest surviving poem written in Old English?
(a) Wulf.
(b) The Dream of the Rood.
(c) Beowulf.
(d) Hymn.

5. In what year were Wihtred's laws issued?
(a) 524.
(b) 875.
(c) 695.
(d) 1210.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the name of the island that Cuthbert died on?

2. Who translated Bede's "History of the English Church and People"?

3. How many lines is "The Battle of Maldon" missing at the beginning?

4. In "The Ruin," what does the author name as "wondrous" and "wrecked by fate"?

5. What does the word "wergild" mean?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Beowulf do right after killing Grendel's mother?

2. What is the topic of the six "so-called Elegies"?

3. What were the many reasons that Bede was renowned?

4. What did King Edwin say must be done before he would accept the Christian faith?

5. What were the two key relationships at the heart of Anglo-Saxon society?

6. To whom is Grendel related and why is this important?

7. In what way were the histories and legends passed down during the Anglo-Saxon period?

8. What is the basis of all elegies?

9. Who was defined as the "most unfortunate man" in Anglo-Saxon society?

10. Why did Caedmon state that he left the feast and went to the stables?

(see the answer keys)

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