Wanderer And Seafarer Essay
The Comparison of the Wanderer and the Seafarer
The Wanderer and The Seafarer belong to elegies, wh ich are ´the most subjective and emotional part of Anglo-Saxon poetry being otherwise much restraine d in real feeling and emotion´ . The word elegy is derived from ´the Greek elegos meaning funeral so ng´ and like all elegies both poems are full of melancholy, mournful mood. The influence of christi anity, which penetrated into Anglo-Saxon society in the sixth and seventh century, is evident in bot h poems. I decided for the analysis of these two poems because they deal with suffering and I wanted to learn how other people, in this case Wanderer and Seafarer, perceive life while suffering and ho w they solve their misery. This essay will concentrate on the …show more content…
There is still little desire in the Seafarer to enjoy his life, which is indicated by sounds of birds seeming unpleasant to him. But the desire for unitying with God is str onger in him- ´ Therefore the joys of the Lord are more living to me than this dead and transient li fe on Earth´ . He submits everything to this desire, he accepts suffering , which is expressed in hi s longing for the sea, however he knows that the voyage will be full of hardships,misery - ´he has a lways longing who is eager to sail out on the sea´ . While the Wanderer is looking for the way out o f suffering, the Seafarer chooses miserable path. The Seafarer gave up secular values- ´he has no mi nd for the harp, nor for the receining of rings /, nor any pleasure in woman, nor any delight in the world´ and that suggests real Christian behaviour, in contrast to him for the Wanderer secular pl easures have great value and he feels sad without them.
The sea helps the Seafarer to get closer to
God, it is not easy to devote to Him on the earth as the earthly life offers many distractions, ple asures, by which the man is neglecting his soul, is forgetting God. In misery the man is
The Wanderer and The Seafarer belong to elegies, wh ich are ´the most subjective and emotional part of Anglo-Saxon poetry being otherwise much restraine d in real feeling and emotion´ . The word elegy is derived from ´the Greek elegos meaning funeral so ng´ and like all elegies both poems are full of melancholy, mournful mood. The influence of christi anity, which penetrated into Anglo-Saxon society in the sixth and seventh century, is evident in bot h poems. I decided for the analysis of these two poems because they deal with suffering and I wanted to learn how other people, in this case Wanderer and Seafarer, perceive life while suffering and ho w they solve their misery. This essay will concentrate on the …show more content…
There is still little desire in the Seafarer to enjoy his life, which is indicated by sounds of birds seeming unpleasant to him. But the desire for unitying with God is str onger in him- ´ Therefore the joys of the Lord are more living to me than this dead and transient li fe on Earth´ . He submits everything to this desire, he accepts suffering , which is expressed in hi s longing for the sea, however he knows that the voyage will be full of hardships,misery - ´he has a lways longing who is eager to sail out on the sea´ . While the Wanderer is looking for the way out o f suffering, the Seafarer chooses miserable path. The Seafarer gave up secular values- ´he has no mi nd for the harp, nor for the receining of rings /, nor any pleasure in woman, nor any delight in the world´ and that suggests real Christian behaviour, in contrast to him for the Wanderer secular pl easures have great value and he feels sad without them.
The sea helps the Seafarer to get closer to
God, it is not easy to devote to Him on the earth as the earthly life offers many distractions, ple asures, by which the man is neglecting his soul, is forgetting God. In misery the man is