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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 describes which of the following as his thinking part (l. 34)?

2. 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). The sentence offers an example of which of the following?

3. In the phrase “to try for myself” (l. 34), relative stress / emphasis falls on the first or only syllable of which of the following?

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

5. The narrator remarks that “the wild swan’s song / sometimes served as my music, the gannet’s call / and the curlew’s cry for the laughter of men, / the seagull’s singing for mead-drink” (ll. 19-22). The passage offers an example of which of the following?

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. 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?

3. 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?

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 tone is conveyed in the passage?

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

6. 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?

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

8. What tone is set by the first 26 lines of the poem? How do they do so?

9. 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?

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

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 2

Consider the central message of "The Seafarer." Argue how the message and / or its support is incorrect; identify the weaknesses in the poem's central message and / or the way it presents the message, articulating why the identified weaknesses are, in fact, weaknesses.

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?

(see the answer keys)

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