“The Wanderer”

• Who is the main speaker in the poem and what is the cause of his melancholy state of mind?

• The speaker says he won't share his troubles with anybody - why?

• In the fourth paragraph, several kennings appear. What do you suppose the kenning "gold-friend" means? What about the compound "winter-sad"?

• Who (or what personified abstraction) is the speaker's cruel companion in the fourth paragraph?

• What does the wanderer dream of when he falls asleep? What does he discover when he awakens?

• What does the setting appear to be? (I.e., where is the Wanderer if he has to stir with his arms "the frost-cold sea" and he awakens to see "yellow waves" where "the sea-birds bathe"?)

• What are the traits of the "wise man" in Anglo-Saxon thinking, as indicated by this poem?

• What is the ultimate destiny of all warriors and their mead-halls?

• Many critics read the last lines as a bit of Christian propaganda. Where does the poet suggest the Wanderer can find comfort and stability?

• On the other hand, there are some allusions to pagan beliefs regarding death in the eighth paragraph. Why do these elements coexist within one text?

“Deor's Lament”

• Who is Deor?

• In the course of his song, Deor refers to several traditional Germanic stories (some of which are unknown even to modern scholars). What do these references tell us about his intended audience and his expectations toward it?

• In the fifth stanza we get a kind of general explanation why Deor feels the need to quote all these tales of woe. What is it?

• In the sixth stanza, Deor refers to his personal situation. What is it and why does he recall all these depressing stories?