Exeter Book

The Exeter Book is a collection of Anglo-Saxon poems that were put into a book. They are a group of poems that were written by Vikings a long time ago about their experiences. Many of their experiences were out on the ocean considering they would be away from home for around five years at a time while they were trying to capture a territory. Some of the wives would write poems about what it was like while their husband and a large amount of their male population was away for five years, and the sorrows and troubles that they faced in that span of time. These poems are meant to be read as metaphors or symbols that mean and stand for something a lot bigger than what their specifically talking about. Personally, I believe that three messages from Exeter book would be suffering, when you’re suffering other people don’t always understand, and that we take things for granted until we lose them.…

Exeter Book Before we get into the poems that consist in the Exeter book, let’s discuss about what the Exeter book is. To start off, it is an anthology. An anthology is a collection of different writings by different authors, like our literature book (hymnal as Mr. McGee calls it). This is the Anglo-Saxon Anthology of poetry. There are three poems in this Exeter book, consisting of The Seafarer, The Wanderer, and The Wife’s Lament. These poems are dramatic monologues, which means there is…

The Exeter Book, an ancient Anglo-Saxon manuscript, remained intact through years of disregard and disdain. This composition contained several unauthored poems written in Old English that were completed in about A.D. 950 (Allen et. al, eds. 102). Three of these translated Anglo-Saxon poems incorporate remarkably comparable material. These poems demonstrate the difficulty of life at sea from multiple points of view. In "The Seafarer," "The Wanderer," and "The Wife's Lament," Anglo-Saxon poets…

These three Anglo Saxon works represent different views of Old English literature. All of these poems are an expression of sorrow over a loss or death. Some of the similarities and differences of these three works are found in the subject, mood, imagery, and theme. In subject matter, there are many similarities and differences. Each one of these poems is told from a different perspective, and provides a different view of the Anglo-Saxon life. These three works tell about a lonely man at sea, a…

Anglo-Saxon literature was centered around one common theme, exile. The exile in literature is often about the banning of a person from a place. Most writers in this time period wrote an elegy for the things they miss from their time before their exiled. Some writers were forced into exile by others for political reasons while others fled for their own safety. As seen in “The Seafarer”, “The Wanderer”, and “The Wife’s Lament” exile was a major anxiety in Anglo-Saxon literature as the threat…

The thought of being exiled from the place that is so familiar, can make a person distraught. Edward Said wrote that, “Exile is strangely compelling to think about but terrible to experience. It is the unhealable rift forced between a human being and a native place, between the self and its true home: its essential sadness can never be surmounted.” Said also thought that exile can become, “a potent, even enriching,” experience. The exile of Victor Frankenstein’s creation in Mary Shelley’s…

These Anglo Saxons poems share many common points. They both tell the protagonists story about being exiled from their society. This was a popular topic in Anglo Saxon time because many had lords who could kick them out at any time without a reason, and the person being exiled could not do anything about it. During the protagonists exile, they experience hard times and emotional pain. The most noticeable similarity is that in both stories, the narrator is exiled from the society. However, they…

Thi Nguyen Dr. Jillian Round 2382.001 9 October 2015 Wanderer above the Sea of Fog In 1818, Caspar David Friedrich creates the piece “Wanderer above the Sea of Fog” which tells a story, using oil on canvas about a man dressed in dark clothing overlooking a vast body of fog with his back turned towards the viewer. The main subject is a man in a dark green coat leaning on a cane and a rock with bright orange red hair. He’s standing upon a mountain comprised of dark browns and blacks. In the…

Analysis of "The Seafarer" "The Seafarer", by an anonymous Anglo-Saxon scop, focuses on the themes of depression and passion. This elegy, which is a song of misery reveals the sorrow, pain, and loneliness the speaker feels while at sea. Though the speaker feels these emotions, he is passionate about what he is doing, and will continue his journey. Interpolations also occur through the end of the story which causes the speaker to change how he views his exile. In the first section, the speaker…

Anglo-Saxons took exile seriously; the threat of exile alone caused much anxiety among the individuals of that society. To be exiled means to be kicked out, or banished from one’s homeland, which would result in having no companionship. Because exile is something the Anglo-Saxons took very seriously, one had to commit a crime in order to be exiled. If one were to commit a crime Anglo-Saxons would resort to execution, unless the crime was not serious enough. If the crime was not serious…