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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. The narrator claims to be doubted by which of the following (ll. 27-30)?
2. The phrase “frost bound the ground, hail fell on the earth” (l. 32) offers an example of which of the following?
3. In line 37, “time and again to travel, so that I might seek,” how many times is the DOMINANT alliteration iterated?
4. From which of the following does the narrator note the tern replies (l. 23)?
5. In line 29, “proud and puffed up with wine, what I, weary,” offers an example of which of the following?
Short Essay Questions
1. The narrator remarks that “he who has tasted life’s joy in towns, / suffered few sad journeys, scarcely believes, / proud and puffed up with wine, what I, weary, / have often had to endure in my suffering” (ll. 27-30). What tone is conveyed in the passage?
2. The narrator comments that “they compel me now, / my heart-thoughts, to try for myself / the high seas, the tossing salt streams; / my heart’s desire urges my spirit / time and again to travel, so that I might seek / far from here a foreign land” (ll. 33-38). What rhetorical appeal/s does the narrator make in the comment?
3. Consider the symbolism of the seabirds the narrator catalogs (ll. 20-23). What rhetorical appeal/s does the narrator make in evoking it?
4. The poem opens with the narrator saying “I sing a true song of myself, / tell of my journeys” (ll. 1-2). What rhetorical appeal/s does the narrator make in doing so?
5. Consider the symbolism of the swan-song the narrator mentions (ll. 19-20). What rhetorical appeal/s does the narrator make in evoking it?
6. What tone is set by the first 26 lines of the poem? How do they do so?
7. The narrator comments that “they compel me now, / my heart-thoughts, to try for myself / the high seas, the tossing salt streams; / my heart’s desire urges my spirit / time and again to travel, so that I might seek / far from here a foreign land” (ll. 33-38). What tone is conveyed in the passage?
8. The narrator remarks that “he who has tasted life’s joy in towns, / suffered few sad journeys, scarcely believes, / proud and puffed up with wine, what I, weary, / have often had to endure in my suffering” (ll. 27-30). What rhetorical appeal/s does the narrator make in doing so?
9. The narrator remarks that “no sheltering family / could bring consolation to my desolate soul” (ll. 25-26). What rhetorical appeal/s does the narrator make in doing so?
10. Consider the kenning for hail, “coldest of grains” (l. 33). How does the kenning construct meaning?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Liuzza translates the Old English “forþon” as “and so” throughout his rendering, emphasizing the uncertainty of relationships between ideas in it (19n4). What effects does such ambiguity have for CURRENT readers (that is, those hearing / reading the text today)? How does it enact those effects?
Essay Topic 2
Consider ll. 48-52, “The groves take blossom” through “over the flood-ways.” How might such things as the narrator notes serve to “urge the eager-hearted / spirit to travel” (ll. 50-51)?
Essay Topic 3
Consider ll. 80-90, “The days are lost” through “throughout middle-earth.” The passage speaks to a commonplace attitude, namely that things were better in earlier days. Given the historical and physical contexts of “The Seafarer,” why might such an attitude have been true for members of the poem’s presumed primary audience? What in the contexts would make it so, and how would they do so?
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This section contains 1,069 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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