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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 remarks that none “could bring consolation to my desolate soul” (l. 26). How many relatively stressed / emphasized syllables are in the line?

2. What does the narrator describe as urging his spirit onwards (l. 36)?

3. In the sentence “And so 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 seafaring” (ll. 27-30), which of the following does NOT describe the “he” upon whom the narrator remarks?

4. Which of the following does the narrator link to the noise of the sea (ll. 18-19)?

5. Which of the following came from the north (l. 31)?

Short Essay Questions

1. The second sentence of the poem reads "Pinched with cold / were my feet, bound by frost / in cold fetters, while cares seethed / hot around my heart, hunger tore from within / my sea-weary mind" (ll. 8-12). Three things are put into juxtaposition. What are they, and what effect does the juxtaposition have?

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. 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?

4. What tone is set by the first 26 lines of the poem? How do they do 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. The narrator states that “The night-shadow darkened; snow came from the north, / frost bound the ground, hail fell on earth, / coldest of grains” (ll. 31-33). What rhetorical appeal/s does the narrator make in the statement?

7. Consider the symbolism of the seabirds the narrator catalogs (ll. 20-23). What rhetorical appeal/s does the narrator make in evoking it?

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. 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?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

Consider the overall poem, its contexts, and its PRESUMED PRIMARY AUDIENCE (that is, the people at Exeter Cathedral who would have read or heard the text in the Middle Ages). What is the central message of the poem? What in the text and context suggests it is so? Given its presumed primary audience, is it likely to be convincing in putting across that central message? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

Consider the circumstances in which the original text of “The Seafarer” exists, notably the historical and physical contexts of the work. Who would the expected primary audience be? What in the text and its physical and historical contexts suggests it? How do they do so?

(see the answer keys)

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