Phillips Exeter Academy

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…

“Dover Beach”: In his “Dover Beach,” Matthew Arnold employs images related to the ocean to establish a theme relating to the cyclical nature of human life. Specifically, he refers to the continuation of misery throughout an individual’s life. This allusion to cycles is supported throughout the poem through the use of tidal imagery. For example, he refers to the French coast and how “the light gleams and is gone” (3-4) This is significant as light often works as a symbol of hope. Therefore, this…

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…

1. In the poem “The Seafarer”, the Seafarer ends the poem with the word “Amen” which suggests that this poem is prayer. The Seafarer ultimately prays for a life in which he would end up in heaven. The Seafarer had gone through many obstacles that have affected his life physically and mentally. For example, the Seafarer engrosses in an obstacle in which he journeys across a winter landscape and entitles himself to psychological land of anguish and torment. However, as the poem continues, the…

The Wanderer and The Seafarer coincide through their spiritual and emotional longings to escape the changing society and exile themselves to the sea. During the Anglo­Saxon time period commoners of this dreary and gruesome time were often surprised with viking raids and the threat of a rapidly changing pagan society. In both poems The Wanderer and The Seafarer we are introduced to the idea of two humble individuals setting themselves apart from their own society and exiling themselves to…

Poems which express feelings of mourning and lament are known as elegies. In these poems, the speaker usually speaks of all they have lost. The poem “The Wife’s Lament” is an elegiac poem because of the character’s circumstance and the tone of the poem. The wife’s painful circumstances in “The Wife’s Lament” is a trait found within all elegiac poems. Towards the very beginning of the poem, the wife starts telling the story of why she is now in exile alone. It appears that she was peace-weaver…

In senior english we study many poems, novels, and other forms of literature.Recently we have been studying an anthology from the Anglo Saxon time period.This collection of poems is an interesting one. There is a several messages from each poem. These three poems are The Seafarer, The Wanderer, and the Wife’s Lament. These messages are life changing. They make you think and give a whole new view of life. The first poem is The Seafarer, this poem is an interesting one. This viking the seafarer…

Throughout the history of man there has always been a great period of peace and Prosperity, but to say the least there has always been conflict. And it is within these conflicts we find the darkest side of man. This is the age of the Anglo Saxon one of the bleakest times in all history. A world ravaged by frequent invaders feed on by starvation, and a constant barrage of viruses that devastated villages. But it was here in these bleak period of time that we see people sing or writing…

Three Themes of, “Seafarer,” “Wanderer,” and “Wife’s Lament” (An Understanding of the Themes in the poems, “Seafarer,” Wanderer,” and “Wife’s Lament.”) Anglo-Saxon people surrounded themselves with honor and bravery, and never with disgrace and fear. Fear is something that is seen in many different ways, such as the fear of an object, the dread that comes from within the body, and the fear that comes from being alone. In the poem of, “The Seafarer,” the man describes the fear of being alone,…