'scyle . . . sceal . . . sy . . . sy' - These lines seem gnomic, though Klinck notes that the context suggests they apply particularly to one individual. Leslie suggests that sceal is used for qualities it is essential to possess, scyle for qualities it is desirable to possess: 'A young man may be serious of mind, stern in the thought of his heart, as he should have a cheerful demeanour alongside his cares, his multitude of sorrows'.
M-R state that sy . . . sy is used correlatively to introduce alternative speculations. Translate 'whether he is dependent upon himself alone for all his joy in the world, or whether he is outcast from his distant country'. As Klinck notes, this is not his homeland, but the 'distant' country in which the wife imagines him now to be resident.