Values Of Christianity And Paganism In 'The Wanderer'

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.

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.

The language used in both poems is selected to focus on the isolation of the characters. In Horse Whisperer, for example, when describing how they escaped from the place they kept the horses in; they joined ‘others of [the horse whisperer’s] kind’. Although this hints that the whisperer had other people like them, and therefore was not totally excluded, the acceptance of them self as another ‘kind’ signifies how their difference separates them from general society.

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,

The second stanza is addressed to ‘wise men’ who know they cannot hide from death and it’s inevitability. Poetic techniques used in this stanza are metaphors, rhyme, symbols and repetition. The line “words had forked no lightning” is a metaphor because words cannot actually fork lightning. This line suggests that the men hadn’t made an impact on the world, nor accomplished all they wanted to in life. Rhyming is also a technique used in every line, ‘right’ and ‘night’ are rhyming words used, and ‘they’ in the second line rhymes with ‘day’ in the previous stanza. So ‘night’, ‘light’ and ‘right’ rhyme, and ‘day’ and ‘they’ rhyme, hence the ABA ABA rhyming pattern. The third poetic device used in the second stanza is symbolism of ‘dark’ in the first line, which represents death. Repetition of “do not go gentle into that good night” is repeated every second stanza as the ending line, ‘night’ in the final line also symbolises death.

The Poem begins with a personification of death as "kindly" (3). By doing this, the speaker introduces a portrayal on death that might have conflictions. Most of the times, death has a negative connotation. Whether it is an inevitable or tragic view, it opposes to what is seen in the poem. The speaker accepts death as a friendly invitation when the time is right, rather than something that is bound to happen. The speaker then joins immortality, personified as a passenger in a carriage. Immortality simply cannot be a passenger as it is a non-living thing. The reasoning for this could be that immortality ties together the link between the speaker and death, ultimately introducing the voyage to come. The first stanza sets a precedent of a meter to follow throughout most of the poem. The first line contains eight

The idea of the Judeo-Christian and the Pagan differentiates greatly from each other. The pagans believe in the idea of dualism, which views the world as distinctly divided into two principles of good and evil. Primordial forms of evil that human experienced were suffering and death. Suffering and death were rooted from change of youth to old or health to sick; therefore, anything experience change was perceived as evil. Nonetheless, human and the earth who experience changes every splits of second were perceived as evil. Gods who are in heaven do not wish directly interact with the human life because it can lower the dignity of gods who are extrinsic to changes; however, Judeo-Christian view is the opposite from this. God does concern about humanity and this can be seen in the first creation narrative. On Day Four, God created the sun, the moon, and

The question of whether or not Christianity has a connection to the pagan world is deeply controversial and is thought to be a conspiracy theory by conservative Christians. So what does the world’s largest religion have in common with Paganism? Through research and art examples, parallels will emerge showing that Christian religion is in fact pagan at its roots.

There are some things that we do know about this poem. It is most often referred to as an elegy because of the mood of mourning and regret. Upon further reading I discovered that this poem is like others of its time period. Many

Exile is commonly seen in Anglo-Saxon literature, specifically the poems: The Wanderer, The Wife’s Lament, and The Seafarer. All three poems deal with the idea of losing something and missing the something so much it pains them to think about it. Although in many cases, the person experiencing exile has nothing to do but think about their exile.

(The Wanderer 82/83) It is very evident throughout all of these pieces of Anglo Saxon literature, that there is a loss of self due to abandonment. This loss of self causes one to become weary, of their surroundings. To be paranoid, and to lose their state of minds. Nothing, helps or will aid them with this losing of self. For they are abandoned and feel like an outsider, in Anglo Saxon Literature.

In the poems “The Wanderer” and “The Dream of the Rood,” anonymous authors give way to the idea that an Almighty God will solve every problem a person has by doing two things: 1) drawing upon the memories of a warrior who has lost everything near and dear to him due to war, and 2) entering the dream of a man who has been exiled and isolated. Each piece takes its reader through the trials and tribulations that one may not relate to in this era, yet the reader is still there alongside the character wanting them to find peace with their world and themselves. Initially, it is believed that the characters will overcome their hardships and achieve the happiness they seek. However, as the reader delves deeper into the character’s story, there is an overwhelming sense of incompleteness. What actually happens at the end of each piece is not written in stone - telling us the story is not whole - nor has a conclusion been reached. The intrapersonal thoughts being shared with the reader reveal the obstacles that keep an overall wholeness from occurring.

In the three poems “The Wife’s Lament”, “The Wanderer”, and “The Seafarer” from The Exeter Book, it’s clear that travel and exile are recurring and important themes. Is there a possibility that these themes and elements have a significance that goes above and beyond their literal meaning? Though they may experience it differently, all three of the speakers from these poems in The Exeter Book deal with the great pain of exile, or being driven out, resulting in the need or desire for travel. This takes place due to the fact exile was one of the most tragic fates that an anglo-saxon man or woman could endure at the time. It makes sense that these themes would play a huge part in these poems because during this time period, exile was the

Throughout the history of British Literature, there have always been the themes of loneliness, torment or exile. Many times authors speak from their experiences and at times those experiences have to do with misery and discomfort with their lifestyles. In the Renaissance age, times were not always happy and people chose to pass on stories generation to generation to reveal their feelings and experiences. Poems made a great impact in easing the pain. In the poems, "The Seafarer" and "The Wanderer", the themes of loneliness and exile exist throughout both of the poems. The unknown authors portray the two themes through detail and emotion.

When I was young, I always knew magick exists in our world. I dabble with a spell that will help me stop bleeding, which comes in handy when hiding a scar from my parents or prevent blood loss. However, as I gotten older weird phenomenon would happen. Such as, seeing events before it happens, being able to drain someone's car batteries while I’m in the car, and of course obtaining luck while having a silver dollar coin in my possession. Although, some religious people may argue that Pagans are devil worshipers in considering what they believed they are provoking evil demons. Which in, Paganism is in fact an Earth-Centered religion that believes in all religion, and magick.