Deor`S Lament Analysis

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Deor's Lament is an Old English poem from the ninth or tenth century and it is contained in the Exeter Book . It is composed of 40 lines divided into seven unequal sections and containing a refrain repeated six times: That evil ended. So also may this!. We do not know who was the poet that wrote Deor's Lament and when. Nothing is known of the bard who names himself Deor (line 35).This poet is mentioned nowhere else and nothing is known of him except for the poem's implication that he was an exile. Deor seems to be a minstrel who has fallen out of the favour and consoles himself by considering the past misfortunes of others such as Wayland the Smith, Theodoric, and Hermanric. It is one of the group of poems in the Exeter Book referred to as "elegies", short poems whose theme is usually the transience and unreliability of the World, sometimes ending, though not in Deor's Lament with a Christian consolation. ANALYSIS 1. This poem, almost unique in Anglo-Saxon poetry, uses a stanza division. How many stanzas is it divided into? (Quote the lines) 2. Are the stanzas of the same length? 3. Each stanza is divided by a repeated line. How many times is it repeated? 4. What is the term that define a phrase, a line or lines repeated at intervals during a poem and especially at the end of a stanza? 5. What is the genre used by the poet in this poem? 6. Look up the term elegy in your glossary and see if this poetic form matches Deor's Lament. (Substantiate your

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