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Question 1

What happens in the passage?

Answer 1

The anhaga is introduced to the reader, situating himself in the world of heroic poetry. The speaker is presented as an exile, an there is movement from the personal to the general to describe his personal sorrow and establish his suffering

Question 2

oft him anhaga / are gebided

Answer 2

The solitary man himself often experienced mercy
oft is translated as often but in poetry it can mean always, meaning his sorrows dominate his every moment
gebided can be translated as experience, meaning that he always experiences mercy, or awaits, meaning that he is waiting for mercy. The latter approach enforces an early Christian didactic approach

Question 3

modcearig

Answer 3

troubled at heart
hapax legomenon shows his suffering to be unique

Question 4

hreran mid hondum / hrimcealde sae

Answer 4

to stir with his hands the ice cold sea
suggests he has paddled a boat across the sea - physical effort
hrimcealde is a hapax legomenon - assaults with poetic imgery

Question 5

wadan wraeclastas / Wyrd bid ful araed1

Answer 5

to travel paths of exile. Fate is fully inexorable!
compound paths of of exile is alliteratively linked with fate
forms an envelope pattern on fate with line 15
araed is an enigmatic word

Question 6

swa cwaed eardstapa?

Answer 6

so the wanderer said
The assertion of the narrator - introduced with a hapax legomenon - is ambiguous
swa cwaed is a phrase not found anywhere else of OE verse - did he speak the previous lines or the lines that follow

Question 7

wrapa waelsleahte / winemaega hryre

Answer 7

of cruel slaughters, the deaths of beloved kinsmen
variation on bad times
beloved kinsmen is a poetic compound

Question 8

Oft ic sceolde ana

Answer 8

Often I alone must
repetition of ana marks the transition from the general to the personal

Question 9

modsefan?

Answer 9

spirit
compound
Situates in the world of heroic poetry - exile, slaughter and the sea are all formulaic techniques

Question 10

paet bip in eorle / indryhten peaw

Answer 10

that it is a very noble custom that a noble man
bip used in gnomic translations

Question 11

ferdlocan faeste binde?

Answer 11

bind fast his chest
compound and kenning
Sentiment of heroic and Christian culture - syntax echoes homiletic fragment ii

Question 12

ne maeg werig mod?

Answer 12

nor may the weary mind
movement to the general - becomes gnomic
weary alliteratively links to withstand fate

Question 13

hreo hyge

Answer 13

troubled mind
variation on mind

Question 14

breostcofan / bindad faeste

Answer 14

bind fast a sorrowful heart
continues binding metaphor - male body is inherently bound together
forms envelope pattern with line 13 (18)