Sorrow And Sadness In The Seafarer And The Wife's Lament

Similarity in literature has been around for many years, meaning things have been somewhat the same for centuries. Furthermore, similarity is when two or more things have something in common. “The Seafarer”, “The Wanderer”, and “The Wife's Lament” bring many similar subjects, moods, imagery, and themes. These three poems share similarity because they are all around the same time period which is around a.d. 950 and they all talk about the main characters being alone and sad.

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.

In normal life, people will sometimes suffer from depression or sickness caused by the loss of a loved one in a romantic or family relationship. This has been a part of life for hundreds of years and it is a way that authors like Edgar Allan Poe, William Faulkner and Horacio Quiroga connect with people all throughout the world. Using exaggerated scenarios, these authors communicate how much of an impact isolation or abandonment can have on a person physically or mentally decaying.

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.

In the nineteenth century women of dignity and grace married men who could provide enough money so that the she could “go housekeeping”. Marriage wasn’t a bond of unity and love, in most cases it was an agreement of sorts that the groom would provide stability to his bride and she intern would provide meals and a clean home. Eunice’s life did not go according to the plan that she or anyone else had imagined for a respectable, middle-class New England woman. In contrast she did transect many of the stereotypes for low-class, immigrant women.

When a loved when is gone it feels like a hole in the world. With much grief he says, “Never again will anyone inhabit the world the way he did. Questions I have can never now get answers. The world is emptier. My son is gone. Only a hole remains, Avoid, a gap, never to be filled”(33). This phrase describes his emotions and how he views the world without his son. The author gives advice on what to say to someone who is mourning. He says to never say its Ok because its never okay and death is awful. “ What I need to hear from you is that you recognize how painful it is. I need to hear from you that you are with me in my desperation” (34). When some passes away no one really knows what his or her loved ones are feeling because each death is unique and each person is different. The wisest of words don’t even make the pain go away, and all that can be done is lending an ear to listen, a shoulder to lean on.

It is safe to assume that the author is no stranger to death. He has seen many people close to him grieve. He has noticed that everyone grieves differently. He understands the need for God’s grace in the midst of grief to get one through the stages of grief.

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.

In his book, Dying Well (1998), Dr. Ira Byock artistically brings a sense of humanity and compassion to a topic so often dismissed and silenced: death. Dr. Byock’s personal experience with his dying father shaped his views on caring for terminally ill patients. Through his father’s death, Dr. Byock recognized the importance of familial support, how to communicate openly, and to make the last moments of one’s life meaningful. These lessons are evident in his telling of Anne-Marie’s, Douglas’s, and Janelle’s prospective end of life stories.

‘Support’ is an abstract noun in the article titled ‘“Black Ops Advertising” Dissects the Rise of Media Manipulation for Corporate Profit’ because it is intangible, and people can encompass its meaning and ideas in their mind. In my opinion, support is aid given to someone either as motivation or physical assistance. Encouraging someone by sentences like ‘I will always support you,’ is an illustration of giving one motivation to overcome his or her difficulties, whilst, providing financial assistance to needy is an example of offering someone physical assistance.

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.

During much of the human’s existence, or at least up until recent years, the threat of exile was up to par with the menace of death. It meant the exiled was forced to leave their dwelling, and, during that period, departure meant almost certain death. In numerous situations, the man or woman would be forced to live on their own and would have little to no outside help; they could not merely enter the next kingdom or village because death by sword was more than a likely possibility due to conflicting kingdoms and the suspicion for what the banishment had resulted from. This was motivation for the constant fear of banishment and allowed for authority to be assured using only a single word. However, as shown in the poems The Seafarer, The Wife’s Lament, and The Wanderer, occasionally exile was not

When reading Eating Alone by Li-Young Lee, I was overwhelmed with a sense of loneliness and nostalgia. I interpreted the poem as Lee having lost his father and reminiscing the memories they had together. It wasn’t my intention, but I soon found myself thinking about my grandfather who passed away when I was six. At the time I was told by my parents that my grandfather was in the hospital to treat his lung cancer and would be out soon. What I wasn’t prepared for was being told that he was no longer with us and “went to a better place”. To make matters worse, my mother had decided to tell me that he passed away two weeks after his death. Knowing that my grandfather had not been there for that duration made me feel so alone. He was someone

“Only solitary men know the full joys of friendship. Others have their family, but to a solitary and an exile his friends are everything” -Warren G. Harding. The Wifes Lament by an unknown scop is an elegy about the betrayal, exile, voyages, and friendship. She laments the loss of her husband, prays for friendship and suffers from exile.

Before this course, I knew nothing about palliative care. From what I know now, what struck me the most was that palliative care included care for the patient’s family (citation?). For me, family is something I highly value and cherish. Family also has a big influence on who I am today. While sitting in lecture, I am constantly reminded of my grandma’s experience of dying. I remember the somber environment in the hospital’s intensive care unit and how emotional everyone was. It was the first time someone close to me had died, and it was also the first time I saw my dad cry.