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

2. The narrator describes hail as which of the following (ll. 32-33)?

3. Which of the following does the narrator “come to know / on the keel of a ship” (ll. 5-6)?

4. The narrator describes his doubter as which of the following (ll. 27-30)?

5. How many stressed / emphasized syllables occur in the opening comment of the poem, “I sing a true song of myself” (l. 1)?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

2. Consider the symbolism of the swan-song the narrator mentions (ll. 19-20). What rhetorical appeal/s does the narrator make in evoking it?

3. 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?

4. 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?

5. 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?

6. 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?

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. Consider the kenning for hail, “coldest of grains” (l. 33). How does the kenning construct meaning?

9. 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?

10. The narrator remarks that "That man does not know, / he whose lot is fairest on land, / how I, wretched with care, dwelt all winter / on the ice-cold sea in the paths of exile, / deprived of dear kinsmen, / hung with icicles of frost while hail flew in showers" (ll. 12-17). 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

There are a few points in the poem, of which “deprived of dear kinsmen” (l. 16) is an example, where the line Liuzza presents (as well as that in the Old English) is markedly short. What effects do the short lines have for CURRENT readers (that is, those hearing / reading the text today)? How do they enact those effects?

Essay Topic 2

Consider the present physical context of “The Seafarer” as encountered in this lesson plan—notably in a translation as part of an anthology. Multiple influences will have exerted themselves on the text, not only those leading up to the composition of the original, but also concerns of translation and editing. What effects do the more modern influences on the text—those of the translator and the editor/s—have on your interpretation of the text? How do they exert those effects?

Essay Topic 3

The narrator notes having “dwelt all winter / on the ice-cold sea in the paths of exile” (ll. 14-15). How does the poem read if “paths of exile” is a literal statement meaning “paths taken by someone not allowed to return home?” How does it read if, instead, “paths of exile” is a kenning referring simply to “the sea”?

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