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Comparing The Wanderer And The Seafarer

Decent Essays

One of the most tragic fates that an Anglo-Saxon man or woman could ever have to face is exile. In the Anglo-Saxon poems such as the “The Wanderer” and the “The Seafarer”, the authors experience times of exile while sailing the oceans. They tell tales of men set out at sea, describing their life lives filled with loneliness and complete desolation. In both poems, the setting of the rough, open seas highlights the theme of exile and plays an integral role in representing the distance and conflicts between the main characters and society. As they follow paths of suffering and affliction, the ruthless seas further torment their lives, only adding to their feelings of loneliness and exile.
“The Wanderer” tells of a tragic story where he has lost …show more content…

Thus said the wanderer mindful of misery
Grievous disasters, and death of kin(3-7)
While he is at sea, the wanderer is met with harsh conditions such as the “wintry seas” and the “icy wave”. Also, the tragic loss of the man’s king and comrades has left him “homeless” and “helpless”, further adding to the conflicts that he must bear. The cruel waters show no mercy and show up wherever the man may go:
Then again surges his sorrow upon him;
And grimly he spurs his weary soul
Once more to the toil of the tossing sea. (49-51)
The seas are relentless and as they play a major role in the wanderer’s journey, they exist as a representation of his inner feelings of loneliness and exile. The setting not only acts as a representation, but also as an instigator as it constantly causes the wanderer anguish “surges sorrow upon him” and “spurs his weary soul”. Similarly, “The Seafarer” shows the ocean to be a force that further emphasizes and worsens a man’s feelings of desolation and exile. In “The Seafarer”, a man recalls his travels aboard a ship travelling the winter seas and about all the hardships and suffering he was forced to endure. The first lines of the poem describe how deeply the setting affects the main

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