Ragnar Lordbrok scoured the lands of France and England during the 9th century. Little is known of his history, yet those who know of him are intrigued. Legend has it that King Ragnar converted from a pagan to a Christian during his time as king. Along his travels he had met a monk who befriended him and taught him the ways of the Lord. This is controversial since there are no other accounts like this. Unless historians have all mistaken a common Old English poem, the “Seafarer,” as having two authors. The “Seafarer” has one author throughout Part I and II considering its history, his longing, and the conversion.
Our sea traveling Viking is one and the same throughout the poem. Vikings lived most of their lives on the water searching for lands to plunder and pillage, but not all cherished that life. The most prominent clues suggest a Viking author, shown in lines 2-5, where he reveals “How the sea took me, swept me back / Showed me suffering in a hundred ships, / In a thousand ports, and in me.” Through the vast amount of ships and ports he came to know, experience is presumed. Though this was the life given, it was not the life chosen. “How wretched I was, drifting through winter / On an ice-cold sea, whirled in sorrow, / Alone in a world blown clear of love”, (14-16). The aforementioned heart …show more content…
The poem changes as his life changes, from a desperate aching heart on a frozen sea, to a newly awakened soul discovering life in the one true God. Although we don’t know the exact author of the “Seafarer”, we can conclude ample information from the nuances of the text and parallels to Ragnar’s life. Like Ragnar, this seafarer’s entire being was turned upside-down, demonstrated by the night and day differences of Parts I and II. Most importantly, this poem illustrates an existence of obscurity converted to a life abundant in
Our sea traveling Viking is one and the same throughout the poem. Vikings lived most of their lives on the water searching for lands to plunder and pillage, but not all cherished that life. The most prominent clues suggest a Viking author, shown in lines 2-5, where he reveals “How the sea took me, swept me back / Showed me suffering in a hundred ships, / In a thousand ports, and in me.” Through the vast amount of ships and ports he came to know, experience is presumed. Though this was the life given, it was not the life chosen. “How wretched I was, drifting through winter / On an ice-cold sea, whirled in sorrow, / Alone in a world blown clear of love”, (14-16). The aforementioned heart …show more content…
The poem changes as his life changes, from a desperate aching heart on a frozen sea, to a newly awakened soul discovering life in the one true God. Although we don’t know the exact author of the “Seafarer”, we can conclude ample information from the nuances of the text and parallels to Ragnar’s life. Like Ragnar, this seafarer’s entire being was turned upside-down, demonstrated by the night and day differences of Parts I and II. Most importantly, this poem illustrates an existence of obscurity converted to a life abundant in