These assignments will require home work unless you wish to bring the HEAVY literature book to class. There are actually few assignments from the book and the work is generally very easy—PROVIDED YOU SPEND A CONSCIENTIOUS EFFORT TO COMPLETE IT.
Remember that answers to all questions must be in complete sentences—even the answers to the riddles.
FIRST ASSIGNMENT : The Seafarer
SECOND ASSIGNMENT: The Wife's Lament & The Husband's Message
THIRD ASSIGNMENT : Riddles (A)
FOURTH ASSIGNMENT : Riddles (B)
FIFTH ASSIGNMENT : Short Poetry
SIXTH ASSIGNMENT : Adam Bede
I will distribute your final; it will be found at this link on this web site after all classes have been given the final in class. Note that this final must be e-mailed. If you have forgotten how, directions for electronic submission are found here.
This poem in your literature book begins on page 17, is 124 lines long, and has questions about it on page 19. Answer all "Check Your Comprehension" and all "Critical Thinking." You do not have to copy the questions. Those who do usually want to fool me by having more written than those who just answer the questions. Trust me; I DO READ ALL YOUR WORK. This is not a "credit for something" assignment. I want to read your ideas.
The Wife's Lament begins in your literature book on page 24, is 53 lines long, and should be read together with the Husband's Message which follows. After the Husband's Message, there are five questions to be answered; the questions refer to both poems. Remember the above caution.
A tree grew me; I was green, and wood.
Away from my home, holding wily
Words, carried out on the ocean,
Riding a boat’s back. I crossed
Stormy seas, seeking the thresholds
Where my master’s message was meant to travel
And be known. And now the knotted blanks
Of a ship have brought me here, and you
Shall read my lord’ heart and hear
His soul’s thought. I promise a glowing
Faith shall be what you find. Read.
See: this wood has come to make you
Remember the hands that carved it, to take you
Back to the love and the pledges you shared,
You two, in that buried time when you both
Could walk unharmed across this festive
Town, the land yours, and you
Each other’s, Your people fought, and the feud
Brought him exile. Now he asks you
To listen for the sad cuckoo calling
In the grove: when its song has reached the edge
Of the woods, he wants you to come to him over
The waves, letting nothing lead you
Aside and no man living stop you.
Go down to the sea, the gull’s home
And come to a ship that can carry you south,
Away, out on the water to where
Your husband and lord longs for your coming.
Nothing the world can send him, he says
Through me, could bring him more delight
Than for Almighty God to grant him you
And for you and he together to bless
His soldiers and friends with treasure, with hammered
Bracelets and rings. For though his home
Is with strangers, he lives in a lovely land
And is right: shining gold surrounds him.
And though my master was driven from here,
Rushing madly down to his ship
And onto the sea, alone, only
Alive because the fled, and glad
To escape, yet now he is served and followed,
Loved and obeyed by many. He has beaten
Misery: there’s nothing more he wants,
Oh prince’s daughter, no precious gems,
No stallions, no mead-hall pleasure, no treasure
On earth, but you, you to enjoy
In spite of the ancient oath that parted you.
And I fit together an S and an R,
And E, an A, a W and D,
In an oath to prove that your pledge is sacred
To him, and his faith as steady as his heart.
As long as life shall be in him, he’ll long
To fulfill the vows and the love you shared.
Answer the following questions in connection with both "The Wife’s Lament" and the "Husband’s Message."
1 What effect is created by the repetition of the words “woe,” “far,” and “few” in the first section of “The Wife’s Lament”?
2 The wife knows little about her far-off husband but she wonders. List the circumstances she thinks about and explain how those circumstances are the result of her own feelings.
3 “The Husband’s Message” is told by the wood it is carved on. How does using this device enhance the feelings in the message and the feelings caused by the message?
4 What has happened to the husband since he was forced into exile? What is intended by mentioning the cuckoo?
5. What kind of “love” is expressed in “The Husband’s Message”?
Yes, I know you can google the riddles and get someone else's answer. I want you to try it yourself, at least before you admit you can't answer. Nothing contained in these riddles is truly impossible for you to understand, if you will only try. The credit comes from honest attempts, not telling me you found the answers.
5
Wounded I am, and weary with fighting;
Gashed by the iron, gored by the point of it,
Sick of battle-work, battered and scarred.
Many a fearful fight have I seen, when
Hope there was none, or help in the thick of it,
Ere I was down and fordone in the fray.
Offspring of hammers, hardest of battle-blades,
Smithied in forges, fell on me savagely,
Doomed to bear the brunt and shock of it,
Fierce encounter of clashing foes.
Leech cannot heal my hurts with his simples,
Salves for my sores have I sought in vain.
Blade cuts dolorous, deep in the side of me,
Daily and nightly redouble my wounds.
16
I war with the wind, with the waves I wrestle;
I must battle with both when the bottom I seek,
My strange habitation by surges o’er-roofed.
I am strong in the strife, while still I remain;
As soon as I stir, they are stronger than I.
They wrench and they wrest, till I run from my foes;
What was put in my keeping they carry away.
If my back be not broken, I baffle them still;
The rocks are my helpers, when hard I am pressed;
Grimly I grip them. Guess what I’m called.
21
By beak is below, I burrow and nose
Under the ground. I go as I’m guided
By my master the farmer, old foe of the forest;
Bent and bowed, at my back he walks,
Forward pushing me over the field;
Sows on my path where I’ve passed along.
I came from the wood, a wagon carried me;
I was fitted with skill, I am full of wonders.
As grubbing I go, there’s green on one side,
But black on the other my path is seen.
A curious prong pierces my back;
Beneath me in front, another grows down
And forward pointing is fixed to my head.
I tear and gash the ground with my teeth,
If my master steer me with skill from behind.
47
I heard of a wonder, of words moth-eaten;
that is a strange thing, I thought, weird
that a man’s song be swallowed by a worm,
his binded sentences, his bedside stand-by
rustled in the night—and the robber-guest
not one whit the wiser for the words he had mumbled.
68
The wave, over the wave, a weird thing I saw,
through-wrought, and wonderfully ornate:
a wonder on the wave—water became bone.
80
I am puff-breasted, proud-crested,
a head I have, and a high tail,
eyes & ears and one foot,
both my sides, a back that’s hollow,
a very stout beak, a steeple neck
and a home above men,
Harsh are my sufferings
when that which makes the forest tremble
Takes and shakes me.
Here I stand under streaming rain
and blinding sleet, stoned by hail’
freezes the frost and falls the snow
on me stuck-bellied. And I stick it all out
for I cannot change the chance that made me.
The assignment is simple: answer each riddle. List the number of riddle and give its answer.
I know you can find answers to these riddles as well. Try to answer them without help. Credit comes from—as I said before—attempting to answer.
12
I travel by foot, trample the ground,
the green fields, for as long as I live.
Lifeless, I fetter dark Welshmen,
sometimes their betters too. At times
I give a warrior liquor from within me,
at times a stately bride steps on me;
sometimes a slave-girl, raven-haired,
brought far from Wales, cradles and presses me—
some stupid, sozzled maidservant, she fills me
with water on dark nights, warms me
by the gleaming fire; on my breast
she places a wonton hand and writhes about,
then sweeps me against her dark declivity.
What am I called who, alive, lay waste
the land and, dead, serve humankind?
23
Wob’s my name, if you work it out;
I’m a fair creature fashioned for battle.
When I bend, and shoot a deadly shaft
from my stomach, I desire only to send
that poison as far away as possible.
When my lord, who devised this torment for me,
releases my limbs, I become longer
and, bent upon slaughter, spit out
that deadly poison I swallowed before.
No man’s parted easily from the object
I describe; if he’s struck by what flies
from my stomach, he pays for its poison
with his strength—speedy atonement for his life.
I’ll serve no master when unstrung, only when
I’m cunningly notched. Now guess my name.
26
An enemy ended my life, deprived me
of my physical strength; then he dipped me
in water and drew me out again,
and put me in the sun where I soon shed
all my hair. After that, the knife’s sharp edge
bit into me and all my blemishes were scraped away;
fingers folded me and the bird’s feather
often moved over my brown surface,
sprinkling meaningful marks; it swallowed more wood-dye
(part of the stream) and again travelled over me
leaving black tracks. Then a man bound me,
he stretched skin over me and adorned me
with gold; thus I am enriched by the wondrous work
of smiths, wound about with shining metal.
Now my clasp and my red dye
and these glorious adornment bring fame far and wide
to the Protector of Men, and not to the pains of hell.
If only the sons of men would make use of me
they would be the safer and more victorious,
their hearts would be bolder, their minds more at ease,
their thoughts wiser; and they would have more friends
companions and kinsmen (courageous, honourable,
trusty, kind) who would gladly increase
their honour and prosperity, and heap
benefits upon them, ever holding them
most dear. Ask what I am called,
of such use to men. My name is famous,
of service to men and sacred in itself.
29
I saw a strange creature,
a bright ship of the air beautifully adorned,
bearing away plunder between her horns,
fetching it home from a foray.
She was minded to build a bower in her stronghold,
and construct it with cunning if she could do so.
But then a mighty creature appeared over the mountain
whose face is familiar to all dwellers on earth;
he seized on his treasure and sent home the wanderer
much against her will; she went westward
harbouring hostility, hastening forth.
Dust lifted to heaven; dew fell on the earth,
night fled hence; and no man knew
thereafter, where that strange creature went.
91
My head was hammered into shape, scarred
by sharp chisels, scoured by a file.
I swallow what faces me whenever,
wearing rings, I thrust firmly
against a hard object; hollowed out
from behind, I strain at what stands
between my lord and his mind’s desire
at midnight. I guard gold at times,,
and pull back my poking nose
when my lord plans to plunder heirlooms
from those he has subdued, to wreak
savage vengeance just as he pleases.
95
I’m a noble object known to warriors,
and often quietly rest; renowned amongst
high and humble, I range far and wide
and plunderers’ pickings are mine if I,
once remote from friends, can but win
success and shining reward in halls.
Now discerning men appreciate
my presence; I’ll reveal wisdom
to many people, all over the earth
they fall silent. Although the sons of men,
livers on land, watch eagerly now
for some sign of me, I sometimes
conceal my tracks from all humankind.
I and Pangur Ban, my cat,
’Tis a like task we are at;
Hunting mice is his delight,
Hunting words I sit all night.
Better far than praise of men
’Tis to sit with book and pen;
Pangur bears me no ill will,
He too plies his simple skill.
’Tis a merry thing to see
At our tasks how glad are we,
When at home we sit and find
Entertainment to our mind.
Oftentimes a mouse will stray
In the hero Pangur's way;
Oftentimes my keen thought set
Takes a meaning in its net.
’Gainst the wall he sets his eye
Full and fierce and sharp and sly;
’Gainst the wall of knowledge I
All my little wisdom try.
When a mouse darts from its den,
O how glad is Pangur then!
O what gladness do I prove
When I solve the doubts I love!
So in peace our tasks we ply,
Pangur Ban, my cat, and I;
In our arts we find our bliss,
I have mine and he has his.
Practice every day has made
Pangur perfect in his trade;
I get wisdom day and night
Turning darkness into light.
9th century
1. What clues in Pangur Ban let the reader know that the author is wealthy?
2. The stanzas are composed of two rhymed couples. How is one stanza significantly different?
3. Most of the stanzas are developed in comparisons. Explain whether the poet or the cat is more important. Explain your belief.
4. How does the poet turn darkness to light and what is the darkness he is writing about?
My tidings for you: the stag bells,
Winter snows, summer is gone.
Wind high and cold, low the sun,
Short his course, sea running high.
Deep-red the bracken, its shape all gone—
The wild-goose has raised his wonted cry.
Cold has caught the wings of birds;
Season of ice—these are my tidings.
9th century
1. Who or what is offering the "tidings" of line one?
2. Why is the sun's course short?
3. What does the wild-goose's "wonted cry" mean?"
Since tonight the wind is high,
The sea's white mane a fury,
I need not fear the hordes of hell
Coursing the irish Channel.
9th century
1. Who or what are the "hordes of hell"?
2. Why are they not feared this night?