English 202
Kent-Drury

Study Questions: Bede, "The Wanderer," "The Wife's Lament," and "Dream of the Rood"

Questions about the Medieval period:

  1. What events mark the beginning and the end of the Middle Ages?
  2. What are the two periods of medieval English literature? What languages characterize each period? What event separates the two periods?
  3. What is a kenning? Variation? Litotes?
  4. Who were the Anglo-Normans?
  5. What are the main differences between epic and romance?
  6. What are three important disturbing events in 14th century England?
  7. Who was the first printer in England? When? What effects did printing have on literature?
  8. What is "oral-formulaic" poetry?
  9. Who wrote Caedmon's Hymn? In what language?
Questions about Bede
  1. For what work is Bede best remembered?
  2. In the passage you have read, one of the king's "chief men" tells a story that contains an important metaphor describing the Germanic pagan world-view. What is the metaphor? What characterizes this world view?
Questions about "The Wanderer"
  1. What is an Old English elegy?
  2. Who is the wanderer and what happened to him?
  3. What does the Wanderer mean when he says "The weary spirit may not withstand fate? If sorrowful thoughts should be kept to oneself, why does the Wanderer lament so much?
  4. What world views do you see represented in "The Wanderer"? What elements of a Christian view do you see in the poem? What elements of the Germanic pagan view described in Bede do you see?
Questions about "The Wife's Lament"
  1. Who is the wife and what happened to her?
  2. What makes this poem an elegy?
  3. Compare this poem with "The Wanderer." How are the main speakers' situations the same? How do they differ? Can you form any conclusions about the roles of men and women in this culture?
  4. What world views do you see represented in the poem? What elements of a Christian view do you see in the poem? What elements of the Germanic pagan view described in Bede do you see?

Questions about "Dream of the Rood"

  1. What is a rood?
  2. "Dream vision" is an important literary device in medieval literature. In it, the speaker narrates a story in which s/he falls asleep, has a dream that is highly symbolic, experiences some kind of revelation (sometimes religious and sometimes secular). The speaker sometimes also applies the dream in everyday life. What is this dream about?
  3. What elements of the germanic-pagan world view can you see in this poem? What elements of the Christian world view?