After Reading

Comprehension: Recall and Interpret

1. What argument convinces Edwin to convert to Christianity? What does this reveal about Edwin’s personality?

2. Summarize the analogy, or comparison, that persuades the king to convert. What do the sparrow and the storm symbolize?

3. Why does Coifi volunteer to be the first person to profane the shrine? Why might the “common people” pay attention to Coifi’s actions?

4. What is Caedmon’s life like before his dream? How does it change after the dream?

5. Describe how Caedmon had to verify the quality and origin of his poetry. What does this reveal about the times in which Caedmon lived?

Literary Analysis: Evaluate and Connect

6. Why does Coifi volunteer to be the first person to profane the shrine? Why might the “common people” be impressed by Coifi’s actions?

7. Which argument for conversion did you find the most interesting? The most sincere? Explain.

8. Analyze the poem that came to Caedmon in his dream. To what is heaven compared?

9. What techniques does Bede use to make history come alive?

10. Theme Connections Why was a humble poet so revered during his time? Do you think a poet could be as important today? Explain.

11. Examine Author’s Purpose A historical narrative tells the story of real people and events during a particular time and place. For this reason, a historical narrative contains many details about the period that it describes. These details are intended to present an objective rendering of reality. In your opinion, do the excerpts from Bede’s Ecclesiastical History fit the above definition of a historical narrative? Explain.

12. Examine Author’s Purpose What is particularly admirable about Caedmon? What moral message can be taken from his story?

13. Analyze Historical Writing What do you learn from Bede about life in 7^th century England? Discuss facts about each of the following:

• monasteries

• poetry

• language and literacy

• people’s worldview

14. Evaluate a Poem What is beautiful about Caedmon’s hymn, judging from Bede’s translation?

Literary Criticism

15. Historical Context Explain ways in which Bede’s purpose and worldview shape the way he presents information. How might a modern historian present information differently?

16. Personal Writing Write about a time when you decided to make a change in your life. Describe why you decided to make this change and how it affected your life. Then reflect upon how you might view changes in your life as a positive sign of growth.

Reading Focus III: The Seafarer

(poetry from the Exeter Book)

KEY IDEA When people find themselves cut off from contact with others, the sense of isolation can be all consuming. It is not surprising that loneliness is a frequent topic in poetry written during the Anglo-Saxon era—an era during which disease, war, and other perils often wrenched people away from their

Loved ones.

Before Reading Meet The Exeter Book (c. 950)

Nothing is known about the authors of “The Seafarer,” “The Wanderer,” and “The Wife’s Lament.” All three poems survive in the Exeter Book, a manuscript of Anglo-Saxon poems produced by a single scribe around AD 950. In addition to these and other secular poems, the Exeter Book contains religious verse, nearly 100 riddles, and a heroic narrative. It is the largest collection of Old English poetry in existence.

Neglected Treasure Originally, the Exeter Book belonged to Leofric, the first bishop of Exeter. He donated it to the Exeter Cathedral library sometime between 1050 and 1 072. For several centuries the book was neglected and abused; few people were able to read the Old English language in which it was written and thus had little use for it. Some pages are badly stained or scorched. The original binding and an unknown number of pages are lost.

FYI Did you know that the Exeter Book... • consists of 131 leaves of parchment, each slightly bigger than a standard sheet of paper? • has knife cuts on some of its pages, which suggests that at one point it was used as a cutting board? • inspired the building of a 19-foot-high stainless-steel statue imprinted with riddles in the city of Exeter?

Rediscovery With the rise of Anglo-Saxon studies in the 19^th century, scholars began to taken an interest in the Exeter Book. Benjamin Thorpe published the first complete translation in 1842. He assigned titles to “The Seafarer” and “The Wanderer,” as none of the poems in the manuscript had titles. A photographic facsimile was published in 1933; it became the basis for later scholarly editions. A CD version, with facsimile pages and audio readings, was released in 2006.

The original manuscript still resides at the library at Exeter Cathedral, where it is cherished as one of the few surviving collections of Anglo-Saxon poetry.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16