The Wife's Lament Poem Analysis

In order to begin with my analysis and what I understood about one of the readings we read for class, I would like to mention that the focus of this paper will be on “The Wife’s Lament”, taken from The Exeter Elegies. “The Wife’s Lament”, as the name conceive, is about the sad story and betrayal or otherwise, journey of a wife who is longing for her husband or lover. The poem is set up in what I believe as having five parts, the first being the introduction of what is about to come. The second, third and fourth being the lament of the wife. The fifth is what I apprehended as the part where she unleashes all her anger and misery in a form of cursing her loved one with what she herself have been or is going through. The tone in the poem, ranges from a sad, lonely and angry voice. With that being said, the tone from the beginning is sad, and somewhat depressing, but then it moves toward an angry tone. The tone, which portrays the speaker feelings so well, goes along with the setting of the poem: a place that is sad and very lonely.
The setting seems to be dark, lonely, joyless, and cold—cold as in a place where no one wants to be, because it appears to be lifeless. In addition to …show more content…
In line 15, the alliteration of the “m” sound in “my”, “commanded” and “me” puts a stress on what I understand as the speaker putting fault on her husband for what she now have to endure. She is now forced to live a life she does not deserve, and she feels betrayed and hated because of this. She mentions that she feels betrayed by her “most fitting man”, who I am assuming is her lord (18). She is left alone after being betrayed and is forced to live in an “earthen cave” (28). The place is not only deserted, dark, lonely, and full of melancholy, but it also display the feelings of the speaker. The imagery of where she is forced to be simply describes her journey and feelings. She