Comparing The Seafarer And The Wife's Lament

Anglo-Saxon literature often expressed concepts of survival, battle, exile, male dominance in society, and loyalty to the lord. These aspects are strongly represented in both “The Wanderer” and “The Wife’s Lament”. Both elegies deliver themes of self-exile and the mourning of lost companions. Ideas of longing and alienation are present in these two Anglo-Saxon poems through use of figurative language, structure, point of view, comparison, and various other literary techniques.

Greenberg is so clever with the use of verbal irony throughout the poem. The wife is really being sarcastic to her husband, in an attempt to reveal her desires that are evidently ignored. The main line that triggered my understanding was, "Not strong, not proud, not just, not provident, my lover would blame me for his heart's distress, which you would never think to do" (630). Once again, I initially thought she was complimenting her husband and showing him great respect. This strong, proud, just and provident man seemed perfect. However, the choice of words "...my lover would blame me for his heart's distress..." is what enlightened my thinking (630). The wife wanted to be so important to her husband that she would be the only thing that causes him distress. She actually resents this prideful man who seems to make everything else more important that her.

The Seafarer, The Wanderer, and The Wife’s Lament all contains faith verses fate. The three poems are very similar and very different. The three poems ranging from a lonely man, to a lost soldier, to a wife’s bedrail. The medieval poems show hurt, confusion, and loneliness.

The relationship that the poem refers to is a domestic one husband, and wife, with the family and its occupants in the center. The speaker’s male tone comes from the way he talks about the house, his description of how it is falling apart, and how he feels inside. The age of the speaker is unknown, but he is undoubtedly old enough to recall a past event. Another indicator of the speaker’s male tone it is the trend for males to hide their feelings of pain -and what better way than to use the house as an implied metaphor. Rather than addressing anyone in particular, the speaker seems at first describing how the relationship starts to fall apart:

She seems to be saying that without the pain and the tribulations, a marriage wouldn’t be worth as much. It’s almost like she says that the sacrifices are what makes the marriage worth it. The pain of this marriage results in the ultimate achievement of the objective of marriage. The poem states that all the aches and pains of marriage are worth going through because the love of another is epic.  I found that the two of these poems together were a fascinating combination, because one speaks of the hypocrisy of not doing anything about the flaws in a person’s own characteristics, and the other seems to say to live with the pain that you have to live with the faults; through doing so one will find bliss; it is worth the sacrifice.

When isolated from society, loneliness becomes a part of you. In the poems, The Wife’s Lament translated by Ann Stanford and The Seafarer translated by Burton Raffel, are two similar and different poems. The characters in these poems handle their exiles in different ways. The way the two characters reflect from their exile is based off Anglo-Saxon values and beliefs. These poems compare and contrast the exile between men and women.

-Essay: 1300- 1500 words. ‘A sense of belonging is never permanent.’ Discuss in relation to TWO poems and TWO pieces of related texts.

Images in the poem reflect the difficulties of the choice the traveler faces. The difficulty is shown in the passage "long I stood" (3)

“When we’re not together, my soul feels hollow. My heart feels numb, my emotions become shallow. Like a rainbow without colors, like poetry without rhyme… being away from you are my life’s darkest times. I miss you.”-Anonymous. This quote is telling us how they feel about someone they miss and it could also be used to describe how the wife feels in “The Wife’s Lament”. “The Wife’s Lament”tells about a sad ,lonely, wife that is missing her husband.

The poem “The Wanderer” speaks of a man who has been exiled from his clan, and is now forced to roam the land alone. Separation from his fellow kinsmen and lord seems to be the worst fate imaginable. The man speaks of his great loss, remembering the time when he was happy with his liege,

Exile, is defined as a state of being barred from one’s native country. How could that even be possible; Being kicked out of a place of inhabitance. Many say that you’d have to do something unthinkable to have a punishment as grim as exile. During the lawless time of monsters and unruly Kings, the Anglo-Saxon era of poems make that all very practical. The creators of each poem discuss the personal endeavors of each exile and how they each come to their own acceptance, or not. “The seafarer”, “Wanderer”, and the “Wife’s Lament” use various literary devices to express the emotional toil, sorrow, and each theme of their exile.

Isolation from society can evoke a deep loneliness and self-reflection. The poem "The Wife's Lament" from the Exeter Book expresses the desolation of exile. The dominant theme is the contrast of a happy past and a bleak present of isolation. The anonymous author of "The Wife's Lament" uses setting, tone, and conflict to develop the theme of great loss. He/she augments a situation in which meditation on life's past joys is the only redemption in a life sentenced to confinement. “The Wife’s Lament” is an excellent example of nostalgia, resentment of the present, and hopelessness about the future.

Over the years, there have been many interpretations of who the speaker of The Wife’s Lament could be. These range from very interesting ideas to ones that seem a little rough around the edges. It is obvious that no sure answer can be found due to the fact that whoever wrote this poem is dead and that the answer will always be in speculation even if it is correct. Hopefully, at the end of this quest I will be slightly more enlightened as to who the true speaker may really be.

As we go through life there are many questions that you may have. These questions can range from what is life, to what is love. There are many different answers that can come from these questions. In the Exeter Book there are three different poems. The first poem is The Seafarer, in this poem the speaker is out at sea. He is in the middle of a storm, and he does not believe that he is going to return home. The next poem is The Wanderer, here the speaker is now homeless. He was once a great warrior who had lost it all. The final poem is The Wife’s Lament, in this poem a wife is exiled by her husband. She is sent away and told to not come back. The Seafarer,

she expresses great love and a great sense of loss, but she does it in