Saturday, November 17, 2018

“The Wanderer” Explanation


“The Wanderer”
 Explanation
1.Often the lone-dweller waits [ 1 ] for favor,
mercy of the Measurer, [ 2 ] though he unhappy
across the seaways long time must
stir with his hands the rime-cold sea,
tread exile-tracks. Fate is established!

Answer:  This lines has been taken from the poem “ the Wanderer”. The Wanderer is an Old English poem preserved only in an anthology known as the Exeter Book, a manuscript dating from the late 10th century.
    Here the speaker want to describe that it  is like a mini-prologue that sets up the initial situation of the poem: we have a mysterious character, the "lone-dweller," who is apparently in exile. He's hopeful that his situation will get better. The "Measurer" here refers to God. The reason might be for mercy. The image of the lone-dweller "stirring" the rime-cold sea with his hands is probably just a way of saying that he's rowing a boat. "Exile-tracks" means "paths of exile."  The lone-dweller must travel alone through an inhospitable, cold landscape. The introduction of fate in the final line refers  uncontrollable destiny. It  makes us wonder about the relationship of God and fate, since both of them seem to have some control over what happens to the lone-dweller.


2.      Often wretched with cares, deprived of homeland,20
far from kin – fasten with fetters,
since long ago earth covered
my lord in darkness, and I, wretched,
thence, mad and desolate as winter,
over the wave’s binding sought, hall-dreary, [ 4 ]25
a giver of treasure, where far or near.

Answer:  This lines has been taken from the poem “ the Wanderer”. The Wanderer is an Old English poem preserved only in an anthology known as the Exeter Book, a manuscript dating from the late 10th century.
   Here the speaker basically says in his poems  that we now know that to keeping your thoughts we have to bind our image of mind.  The speaker also explain  his unhappy situation –  that he's far away from home and without his relatives.   In the line 23 the speaker describe that  his lord has been died and been buried. The meaning of word ”mad and desolate as winter" is   winter-sorrowful. The winter weather is a problem for someone who's in exile. The image of the "wave's binding" echoes the language of binding the heart and mind from the previous few lines. It also creates the idea of the sea as a prison in which the exile is trapped. In the line 25 here the word  "hall-dreary" refers that maybe having a hall to chill out in anymore, since without a lord, he's also without the lord's center of power, the hall. The lord is called a "giver of treasure." Distributing treasure to his nobles was one of a lord's most important ways of maintaining power.

3.      He knows who tries it how cruel is sorrow,30
a bitter companion, to the one who has few
concealers of secrets, beloved friends. [ 5 ]

Answer: This lines has been taken from the poem “ the Wanderer”. The Wanderer is an Old English poem preserved only in an anthology known as the Exeter Book, a manuscript dating from the late 10th century.
    Here the speaker want to describe that Instead of real friends, the exile has sorrow as a companion. This passage marks an end to the earth-stepper's reflections on his own experience. Now, he begins to think about the fate of all exiles. The speaker explain that "beloved friends" or protectors, to characterize these friends as "concealers of secrets." He does this because the word after leofra is unclear in the manuscript. The characterization of friends as "concealers of secrets" fits well with the idea in lines 9b-14, that the earth-stepper's lack of friends leaves him with no one he trusts to talk to.

   4.       Spirits of seafarers bring but seldom 55
         known speech and song. Care is renewed
to the one who frequently sends

Answer: This lines has been taken from the poem “ the Wanderer”. The Wanderer is an Old English poem preserved only in an anthology known as the Exeter Book, a manuscript dating from the late 10th century.
    Here the speaker want to describe that   "seafarers" is actually the Old English word  fleotendra, or floating ones. So "spirits of seafarers probably refers to the companions who swim away in line 55. These visions of kinsmen fail to bring with them the familiar conversations and songs the exile misses from his days in the hall. Memories and dreams of better times bring no relief for the exile. Instead, they make things worse.

5. His winters in the world. [ 11 ] The wise man is patient,
not too hot-hearted, nor too quick tongued,
nor a warrior too weak, nor too foolhardy,
neither frightened nor fain, nor yet too wealth-greedy,
nor ever of boasts too eager, before he knows enough.

Answer:  This lines has been taken from the poem “ the Wanderer”. The Wanderer is an Old English poem preserved only in an anthology known as the Exeter Book, a manuscript dating from the late 10th century.
   Here the speaker want to Say that someone has many "winters in the world" is just a fancy way of saying that he's old. But saying that in this way also connects the elderly to the exile, who is defined by his exposure to wintry weather. The wise man is patient: he is not too "hot-hearted," meaning that he doesn't allow his emotions to make him do something stupid. We might call this "hotheaded."
He is not too "quick tongued," meaning that he thinks before he speaks.The warrior must have courage. He must also not be too "wealth-greedy." This last one is interesting because we've already seen that when the exile longs for his lord, he's longing for the treasure his lord gives him, too. A boast was an important way for a warrior to build a reputation among others, but failure to fulfill a boast brought horrible shame. The good warrior waits until he "knows enough," that is, until he is certain that he can fulfill his boast, before speaking it.
6        A wise man perceives how ghastly [ 13 ] it will be
when all this world’s weal desolate stands,75
as now here and there across this Middle-Earth
blown on by wind walls stand
covered with rime, the buildings storm-shaken.
Answer:  This lines has been taken from the poem “ the Wanderer”. The Wanderer is an Old English poem preserved only in an anthology known as the Exeter Book, a manuscript dating from the late 10th century.

 Here the speaker want to explain that the earth-stepper returns to the idea of the impermanence of existence. A wise man, he says, recognizes how horrible it will be when all the world's "weal" (prosperity or wealth) is deserted. The word translated here as "ghastly" is the Old English word gastlice, which can also mean "ghostly." Both meanings are appropriate here, since after all people have died, the world will have a haunted feeling.He compares this desertedness to that of abandoned buildings he sees "here and there" throughout his world. Just like the exile, these buildings are wracked by the wintry weather: they are "storm-shaken," and covered with "rime" (frost).
7.       All is the earth-realm laden with hardship,
fate of creation [ 15 ] turns [ 16 ] world under heaven.
Here goldhoard passes, [ 17 ] here friendship passes,
here mankind passes, here kinsman passes:110
all does this earth-frame turn worthless! [ 18 ]

Answer:  This lines has been taken from the poem “ the Wanderer”. The Wanderer is an Old English poem preserved only in an anthology known as the Exeter Book, a manuscript dating from the late 10th century.  
  Here the speaker want to explain that The speaker turns away from a contemplation of the fallen warriors before the wall to reflect upon what this sight teaches him. More specifically, the "fate of creation" turns the world, meaning that fate governs events in this world. With the idea of the world being governed by the "fate of creation," in Old English wyrd geschaeft, the poem returns to the idea from line 5, that "fate is established": that it governs events and can't be changed. the translator has given here as "passes" is the Old English word laene, or "loaned." The idea is that the gold-hoard, friends, kinsmen, and mankind are all "on loan" from someone. The owner might be fate or God. Just as the speaker remarked that the deserted buildings were worthless without occupants, so the "earth-frame" becomes worthless without people to occupy it.
  8.      So said the one wise in mind, at secret conclaves sat him apart.
Good, he who keeps faith, nor too quickly his grief
from his breast makes known, except he, noble, knows how beforehand
to do cure with courage. [ 19 ] Well will it be.

Answer:  This lines has been taken from the poem “ the Wanderer”. The Wanderer is an Old English poem preserved only in an anthology known as the Exeter Book, a manuscript dating from the late 10th century.
 Here the speaker want to explain that "So said the one wise in mind" marks the end of the earth-stepper's speech that began in line 8. Alternatively, this line might be the speaker's attempt to signal that the following lines come from the wise man that began contemplating the fallen warriors in line 89.We get one more piece of information about this mysterious wise man: that he sits apart from everyone else at "secret conclaves."  The wise man sits apart from others. Even in company, he is as isolated as he was in exile. The grief one would do well to keep silent about comes "from his breast." Once again, the poem returns to the image of the body as a container for thoughts and emotions. The idea that it's particularly important not to speak about sorrow occurred in lines 14-18. There, the reason given for this necessity was that speaking about one's troubles couldn't possibly make them better.

























1. Explain Narrative Point of view of the Wanderer?
Answer: The Wanderer is an Old English poem preserved only in an anthology known as the Exeter Book, a manuscript dating from the late 10th century.
   It is most commonly said that there are two speakers in the wander. The first speaker is a narrator who is reviving(পুনরায় জীবত করা) an ancient poem and not part of the original.  In this theory, the narrator is a later individual who has been converted from paganism(নিকৃষ্ট ধর্ম) to Christianity and who attempts to combine the non-Christian narrative of the tale(গল্প) with a Christian theology(ধর্মতত্ত্ব) of seeking mercy(line2) and refuge(আশ্রয়স্থান) (line 116) from the "Father in heaven," a definitive Christian reference. The wanderer(line-6) goes on what they call an exile to find a new king and kingdom that will accept him and which he can embrace because now he has no one who will accept his affection or give him 'consolation( সান্ত্বন).

2. Literary device of the poem “ The Wanderer.
Answer:  Literary devices include similes, metaphors and personification (the attribution of human nature or character to animals, inanimate objects, or abstract notions), etc.
Similes: The poem  the Wanderer at Line 24 " mad and desolate as winter" there is a simile. The earth-stepper describes himself as "mad and desolate as winter" in a simile that shows the way his mood is matched by the wintry weather through which he travels.
Metaphor: In Line Line-54  Memories of the wanderer's friends " Swim away" from him there is  Metaphor.
Personification: Fasten[ his heart] with fetters. Winter weather " attacking".

3. What is the Christian and pegan element of the wanderer?
Answer: The Wanderer is an Old English poem preserved only in an anthology known as the Exeter Book, a manuscript dating from the late 10th century.
   In "The Wanderer" The poet has lost his people; he is utterly alone in the world. There is none alive to whom he dares express his " innermost thought;" he contemplates the fallen state of the world-
  "Indeed I cannot think/why my spirit/ does not darken/ when I ponder the world/ life of men/ Throughout the world/ How they suddenly left the hall,/ the proud thames".
  In the Wanderer, the ultimate evil of the pegan world to be without kinsmen, utterly forgotten- is conflated with a kind of cosmic or spiritual destruction. : " all the foundation of this world turns to waste!" The Christian god is a fearsome agent of destruction, on the one hand, and, in the conclusion of the poem, the only source of mercy and consolation for the poet.

4. Why it's called an elegy?
Answer: An elegy is a sad poem, usually written to praise and express sorrow for someone who is dead.
  The Wanderer is an Old English poem preserved only in an anthology known as the Exeter Book, a manuscript dating from the late 10th century.
    In "The Wanderer" The poet has lost his people; he is utterly alone in the world. There is none alive to whom he dares express his " innermost thought;" he contemplates the fallen state of the world-
  "Indeed I cannot think/why my spirit/ does not darken/ when I ponder the world/ life of men/ Throughout the world/ How they suddenly left the hall,/ the proud thames".
  In the Wanderer, the ultimate evil of the pegan world to be without kinsmen, utterly forgotten- is conflated with a kind of cosmic or spiritual destruction. : " all the foundation of this world turns to waste!"
    That is why we can call the wanderer as  an elegy.











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