Materialism In Wlf And Eadwacer

The “Seafarer” and the “Wife’s Lament” poems are series of Anglo-Saxon exile poem. Each poem has its own syntaxes, however throughout the Seafarer and Wife’s Lament poem the theme of loneliness is the underline vividly to the reader. In the Seafarer and the Wife’s Lament, both characters are exiled and in great sadness, however, the Seafarer’s view of heaven allows him to see a future beyond his hardships.

“His soul/Left his flesh, flew to glory,” (l. 827-28). Beowulf, a poem written in 700 A.D. by an anonymous Christian monk, has done just that. This poem has flown to glory and has remained there for almost 1,300 years. Beowulf will forever be remembered as the “mother poem” of England because of its representation of the Anglo-Saxon era. This era was a time of cultural uniqueness, including its distinctive writing styles. Beowulf is a perfect example of Anglo-Saxon literature. It tells of the tale of an epic hero as he battles his way to fame and glory, all the while struggling between two religions, Christianity and Paganism. Beowulf allows the Anglo-Saxon era to live on through its use of dramatic imagery, conflicting tones, and unique use of diction and style.

The Wanderer and The Dream of the Rood are two Old English poems that demonstrate the link between lord and thane. This bond, also known as the comitatus, is highlighted with imagery to effectively portray the physical intimacy involved. The idea that everything is fleeting is emphasized to show the significance of the comitatus. Furthermore, the beauty of the relationship is shown by contrasting the shame that the Wanderer feels at the end of the poem to the honour and glory that is thrown upon the cross after it willingly suffers along with Christ. In all, the ideals of the comitatus during the Medieval Times are clearly advocated through the illustration of the physical intimacy, shame and honour involved in the two poems.

Religion can be found in a majority of cultures and society all across the world, and cultures have been following religions for thousands of years. Although a religion may have started practice thousands of years ago, a religion may not even earn itself a certain label or name for the religion. Buddhism, for example, did not gain the title of Buddhism until the nineteenth century. For a practice to be considered a religion, it must include leaders, beliefs, rituals, symbols, myths, scriptures, ethics, spiritual practices, cultural components, historical traditions, or management structures. However, not all of this religion behavior may occur in religious institutions, such as a church or monastery. If one can build

The Old English era lasted from around 450-1066 A.D. (Anglo-Saxon Period 1). Within the Anglo-Saxon time period, writings were an important piece. Many Anglo-Saxons writings surrounded the concept of exile and fate. Exile is the act in which a person spends a prolonged time away from their home. Home is an important place for people and their well being. Traditions were made including alliteration, stressed and unstressed syllables, etc. The most important tradition, however, was the poetry. The most significant part of the poetry was the simple fact of mourning and reflecting on suffering and loss (Anglo-Saxon Period 1). Knowledge about the history helps in understanding these poems and why they relate to Anglo-Saxons’ lives. In

For the Anglo-Saxons, the world was a wind-swept place, cold and hostile. Not only did they face the constant threat of belligerent bands of warriors sweeping across the horizon, but the elements themselves buffeted their homes and wore away the hulls of their ships. While temporary safety could be found in the warmth of the mead-hall and the companionship of others, the devastation of war, disease, and time would slowly etch away at even the most stable and peaceful society. This unease spurred Anglo-Saxon poets to write some of their most beautiful, haunting pieces of verse, like Hrothgar’s Sermon from Beowulf and the Elegies.

In poetry, poetic style is one of the most important techniques to “establish mood, images, and meaning in the text”. This is especially true when one is to differentiate the differences of two poems. The poem “Ozymandias”, written by Percy Bysshe Shelley was first published in the seventeenth century, specifically in 1818. During this era, poets commonly integrate the elements of romanticism into their poetry, making the beauty of nature an important characteristic in literature. In fact, romantic poets typically make nature the main theme or setting of their poem to express the significance of the natural world.

Poetry in the Anglo-Saxon or Medieval Period tended to be ballads that taught a lesson or communicated a story. Poetry in these time periods also reflected the main religion of the specific time. Beowulf, written in the Anglo-Saxon time period is an epic, or long narrative poem, and contains an “uneasy blend of Christian ethics and pagan morality” (Prentice Hall Literature, 23). Medieval poetry focused on the chivalric code or lessons typically written in ballad form or as a lais. Bisclavret, a lais written in the 12th century, illustrates the importance of upkeeping chivalry. Unlike these poems, the common form of poetry in the years of 1485 to 1625 were sonnets or lyric poems. William “Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets, like those in other sonnet

Evidence of this can be found in the second stanza and in the multitude of rhetorical devices described in the preceding paragraphs. In lines 19 and 20, the speaker reveals his primary reasons for composing his elegy when he says “so may some gentle Muse / with lucky words favor my destined Urn;" he writes hoping that one day when he dies another will do the same for him. This surprising revelation is the first and obvious indicator of the speaker’s self-centeredness even while mourning the death of his friend. Subtler indicators of this lie in the complexity of the elegy itself. The poem is dense with rhetorical devices and allusions from Greek mythology that hint at the intellectual sophistication of the speaker. For example, “the sisters of the sacred well” (15), refer to the nine ancient muses who inspired poetry, “the laurels”(1) are a reference to story of Apollo and Daphne, “the myrtles”(2) to Venus, et cetera. There’s so much detail and complexity melded in just two stanzas the elegy begins to border on mannerism. This leaves readers wondering if the poem is really intended to mourn the loss of a friend or to show off the poetic skill of the

that inspires many creators. The medieval times is made of a different dialect, different standards

One of the first literary forms to come about was poetry. Poetry was originally derived from Fables which began in 550 B.C. and was a fictional story written in pros or verse that usually included mythical creatures, animals, objects, or forces of nature, and illustrate a moral lesson (Mathur, Amy). Both fables and later poetry were used as a way to preserve cultures and quench a thirst for knowledge. What poems are written and read for are sound, rhythm, and meaning and all of these can be portrayed in varying structures. There are narrative poems which tell a story, dramatic poems which contain dialogue, and lyric poems which are intense in emotions. An early poem that is very well-known and studied as a narrative piece is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. This piece was written around 1350-1400 during the period of “great individual writers” (Mathur, Amy). It tells of King Arthur and his Knights of

Throughout the years, the world has changed and developed. Issues, beliefs, and morals are always changing although they can be alike in some manner. Literature is affected by this. Literature is greatly influenced by various aspects of the world and what occurred during the time it is written. Because of this impact, the time period is often reflected through the writing composed. Within the epics “The Seafarer” and Beowulf, the time period was reflected through the social ideals, styles of writing, and stories.

Arguably two of literature’s greatest time periods, Medieval and Renaissance literature have redefined classic writings and shaped the minds of readers for centuries. Their similarities lie in the excellenct workmanship by their authors. However, despite their similar influence across the globe, Medieval and Renaissance are very different time periods with vast contrasts in romance, style, and themes. These contrasts can be seen in Pearl Poet’s Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Beowulf, and Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

Franz Schubert’s Der Erlkönig is the most famous adaptation of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s poem. The story of the Erlkönig is based on the traditional Danish medieval ballad Elveskud, Goethe’s version was inspired by a translation done by Johann Gottfried Herder (1778). The characterization in the Lied has been subject to criticism and research from the moment it came to be. The song has been analyzed in a variety of ways including: harmonic, emotional, and psychological. The Art Song “Der Erlkönig” was known to have four characters, when in reality, it has five characters: horse, narrator, father, child, and the Elf-king. The title of the poem was said to be a mistranslation of the Danish ellerknoge, but it was Herder who invented the word and set it in his Erlkönigs Tochter (1779). Through careful combination of music and poetry, we can see how Schubert uses emotions within the characters in Der Erlkönig. Der Erlkönig follows the narrator telling the story of a father with his child, who are traveling to a safe place, because the child is sick and dying. In his delirium, the child sees the Elf-king who usually takes dying children, teasing the child into going with him to the afterlife. The child in fear tells the father what he sees, to which his father dismisses until the end. At the end, the Elf-king takes the child and when the father gets to the safe place, he finds his child has passed away. The poem goes as follows (with translation):

An atomic blast ended World War II and ushered in the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. As the fear of communism spread and Joseph McCarthy stepped into the role of “Grand Inquisitor” for the House Committee on Un-American Activities, Americans wanted to take up life where it had left off before the war years when they had job security and happy marriages. Young people were expected to receive a successful education, begin work, live principled lives, marry, and have children, then take the torch of a prepackaged-life from their parents and pass it on for posterity. Conformity was a safe option and remained as society’s prerequisite for being a good citizen. However, some felt that security and safety were a facade that could be destroyed at any moment. Most Americans tried not to think of their vulnerability even though the world was still reeling from the aftershocks of World War II (“Beat Movement”).