Comparing The Wanderer And The Seafarer

The poems “The Wanderer” and “The Seafarer”, found in the Exeter Book with unknown authors, represent a lot about what Anglo-Saxon life is about. The Anglo-Saxons are a group of people from the Baltic shores of Germany who drove out the Britons in order to settle the greater part of Britain. The Sutton Hoo treasure, composed of ornate weapons and jewelry, demonstrated that the Anglo-Saxons were great craftsmen, historians, scholars, and poets disparaging the common depiction of them as barbaric. Scops, or bards, were also very important to society. The storytellers would tell heroic tales, rich in detail, that echoed the reverberation of fame, which may be why they were so important. Their poems convey the Anglo-Saxon culture through references to religion, allusions to warrior society, and blatant reliance on a leader.
Christianity became an important part of the Anglo-Saxon culture when Saint Augustine II converted King Ethelbert of Kent in 597 A.D. This pivotal moment led to other
Fame, success, and survival was achieved through loyalty to such a leader, especially success which was measured in gifts from the leader. This system of loyal dependency is observed in “The Wanderer”. “Head on knee, hand on knee, loyally laying, / Pledging his liege as in days long past” the Wanderer recalls that precious moment until it is replaced by “the dark earth cover[ing] [his] dear lord’s face (37-38, 21). The death of the leader leaves the soldier in exile, “woefully toiling on wintry seas / With churning oar in the icy wave / Homeless and helpless he fled from fate… mindful of misery… and death of kin” (3-7). Without the protecction of his overlord, the Wanderer ilacks a defining purpose in life, sailing “over wintry seas, seeking a gold-lord… to befriend me / With gift in the mead-hall and comfort of grief” and daydreaming of better days. (23-25).