The Wife's Lament

The Wife's Lament 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

Loss and Reflection in “The Wife’s Lament” 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

The two poems known as “The Wife’s Lament” and “The Lament of the Old Woman of Beare” have numerous similar qualities even though they both come from different people. “The Wife’s Lament” is an Old English poem that is exceptionally heavy with emotional content; it is a monologue from the perspective of a sorrowful woman who appears to be undergoing significant sorrows due to separation from her husband, most likely the result of exile. The other poem, “The Lament of the Old Woman of Beare,” is an

Analysis of “The Wife’s Lament” “The Wife’s Lament,” by an anonymous Anglo-Saxon scop, focuses on the themes of, sorrow and wondering. This elegy reveals the worries, torment, and mourning a speaker feels when lies come between their relationship with a loved one. The wife is helpless as her husband has been brainwashed by his kinsmen. Although her husband should believe her he does not, and the wife still worries about his feelings as well as his safety. The first section is a short foreshadowing

The Wife’s Lament Meaning ‘The Wife’s Lament” is considered a riddle poem because there are multiple interpretations on what happens; readers must make inferences from the text given. Of the many interpretations, here is one that stands out. “The Wife’s Lament” may be about a wife expressing sorrow at her husband’s leave for a distant land. The wife’s husband may have betrayed her and left her to live in a cave. Since the wife still cares about her husband, she goes out trying to find him, but her

The Anglo-Saxon poem “The Wife’s Lament”, reveals the story of a woman who is exiled by her husband. Though, the place she is sent into exile is quite odd: a den. There’s no concrete reason to believe this woman is living in a hole in the ground, and perhaps, she is not. In fact, the Wife is dead and speaking from the grave. As the poem develops, we see how the speaker recounts that the kinsmen, driven by a “darkened thought” (12), planned to separate her and her husband. This happened after the

An elegy is defined as “a mournful poem, especially of lament and praise for the dead” as defined by Webster’s New World Dictionary. Elegiac, the adjective form of elegy, is defined “1. of, like, or fit for an elegy 2. Sad; mournful” (Webster’s New World Dictionary, pg. 211). The Wife’s Lament is an elegy. Unlike the definition of elegy suggest, in the poem it is not a lament or praise for the literal dead, but instead a figurative death that the Wife sees and feels. In the first half- line of

The Wife’s Lament is a suspenseful, short elegy that leaves the reader in confusion and awe at the same time. The poem deals with hardship, sadness, and frustration while intentionally or unintentionally leaving the audience confused at the end. In the story, a young woman is at a point of no return causing a sad ending that is up for the reader to interpret. The storytelling throughout the elegy seems to be well written for the time period that it was transcribed. While most old English poems don’t

“The Wife’s Lament” by an anonymous Anglo –Saxon scop depicts personal exile and longing for lost love. The elegy focuses on grief, mourning, and longing. The speaker feels alone and afraid that her husband will never return. Though she is terrified, she reminisces about the former days. In the first section of the poem, the speaker tells us that she is going out on the ocean because she is “voyaging” (2). She is voyaging due to her sorrow and her “grief.” She is searching for something that she

I have learned that in early English society they were very culturally diverse in the fact that women were very submissive to men and were very dependent on them. In "The Wife's Lament" the poem is clearly about how she feels lost and hopeless without her husband. A quote that shows women's dependence on men is in the quote, "This earth-hall is old, and I ache with longing; the dales are dark, the hills too high, harsh hedges overhung with briars, a home without joy. Here my lord's leaving often