“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.

Short summery of The Seafarer and Short Question and Explanation.

The Seafarer(Short)

 "The Seafarer" was first discovered in the Exeter Book, a hand-copied manuscript containing the largest known collection of Old English poetry, which is kept at Exeter Cathedral, England. "The Seafarer" has its origins in the Old English period of English literature, 450-1100, a time when very few people knew how to read or write. Even in its translated form, "The Seafarer" provides an accurate portrait of the sense of stoic endurance, suffering, loneliness, and spiritual yearning so characteristic of Old English poetry. "The Seafarer" is divisible into two sections, the first elegiac and the second didactic. "The Seafarer" can be read as two poems on separate subjects or as one poem moving between two subjects. Moreover, the poem can be read as a dramatic monologue, the thoughts of one person, or as a dialogue between two people. The first section is a painfully personal description of the suffering and mysterious attractions of life at sea. In the second section, the speaker makes an abrupt shift to moral speculation about the fleeting nature of fame, fortune, and life itself, ending with an explicitly Christian view of God as wrathful and powerful. In this section, the speaker urges the reader to forget earthly accomplishments and anticipate God's judgment in the afterlife. The poem addresses both pagan and Christian ideas about overcoming this sense of suffering and loneliness. Moreover, "The Seafarer" can be thought of as an allegory discussing life as a journey and the human condition as that of exile from God on the sea of life. Whatever themes one finds in the poem, "The Seafarer" is a powerful account of a sensitive poet's interaction with his environment.

Q. What is elegy give reference to the text.?

Answer:

"The Seafarer" was first discovered in the Exeter Book, a hand-copied manuscript containing the largest known collection of Old English poetry, which is kept at Exeter Cathedral, England.

     An allegory is a figurative narrative or description either in prose or in verse that conveys a veiled moral meaning.The seafarer is an old English poem of 124 lines. It is also called an Anglo- Saxon elegy. The critics of are of different opinions about its structures & themes.

   "The Seafarer" is divisible into two sections,  The first section is a painfully personal description of the suffering and mysterious attractions of life at sea. In the second section, the speaker makes an abrupt shift to moral speculation about the fleeting nature of fame, fortune, and life itself, ending with an explicitly Christian view of God as wrathful and powerful.

   The seafarer gives an account of his life of hardships & miseries on the sea, “ Sitting day long at an oar’s end clenched against clinging sorrow breast drought I have borne & bitterness to.” Speaking allegorically the sufferings & hardships of the Seafarer are symbolical for the whole human race.

          

         Finally, the Seafarer surrenders to the Christian faith & upholds that only trust in heavenly father can make a human soul see its redemption or salvation. God is our real abode. In him we must trust & to him we must surrender. God, the Almighty is our real protector. So, the life of the Seafarer , his belief in seeking refuge in God has been allegorically portrayed in the poem by the poet.

2. Justify to your answer allegory, simile and metaphor of  poem “ the seafarer”.

Answer: "The Seafarer" was first discovered in the Exeter Book, a hand-copied manuscript containing the largest known collection of Old English poetry, which is kept at Exeter Cathedral, England.

Allegory:  An allegory is a figurative narrative or description either in prose or in verse that conveys a veiled moral meaning. The seafarer is an old English poem of 124 lines. It is also called an Anglo- Saxon elegy. The critics of are of different opinions about its structures & themes.  the whole poem as an allegorical representation of human exile from God on the sea of life.

Simile:    Anglo-Saxon poetry is marked by the comparative rarity of similes. This is a particular feature of Anglo-Saxon verse style. As a consequence of both its structure and the rapidity with which its images are deployed it is unable to effectively support the expanded simile.

Metaphor:  In a metaphor(Line-8-9) that makes the cold and frost into shackles, the speaker describes his feet as bound and fettered by them. (Line 10) The speaker describes his cares as "seething" about his heart in an implicit metaphor that turns them into heat or fire.

1.  This tale is true and mine. it tells

How the sea took me, swept me back

And forth in sorrow and fear and pain

showed me suffering in a hundred ships

In a thousand ports and in me,

Answer:  The first 1-5 line has taken from the poem of “The Seafarer”. Here the actual meaning of this line are: I can make a true song  about me myself, tell my travels,  how I often endured days of struggle,         troublesome times (1-3) How I have suffered grim sorrow at heart, have known in the ship  many worries [abodes of care]. (4-5)

Explanation:

  Right away in line 2 with the verb "endured," the poem lets us know that the speaker's "true song" is no walk in the park, since this is a word that connotes suffering. And line 3 confirms our suspicions: this song is about trouble and a struggle.

  The more literal translation of "worries" as "abodes of care" suggests that the speaker inhabits not just a ship, but also a psychological space of sadness. He carries his suffering around inside himself, almost as if his body is the ship itself. This sorrow overwhelms him so much that he feels like it's an actual place in which he dwells – an "abode."

2. The hailstorms flew.

The only Sound was the roaring sea,

The freezing waves.

Answer:  This (17-19) line has taken from the poem of “The Seafarer”. Here the actual meaning of this line are:

hail flew in showers. here I heard nothing but the roaring sea, the ice-cold wave.

Explanation:

·         The speaker has already told us a lot about how he felt when he was on the sea, both physically and emotionally. Now he describes what he heard. And it ain't much – just the roar of the ocean and the cries of seabirds. There's not a human sound around.

3.The song of the swan

Might serve for pleasure, the cry of the sea-fow

The death- noise of birds instead of laughter

The mewing of gulls instead of mead

Answer:

This (17-19) line has taken from the poem of “The Seafarer”. Here the actual meaning of this line are:

At times the swan's song     I took to myself as pleasure, the gannet's noise  and the voice of the curlew         instead of the laughter of men, the singing gull instead of the drinking of mead.

Explanation:

  The Speaker did take pleasure in the "swan's song," so at least there was something sort of pleasant about this whole experience. But still, those bird-cries are no substitute for the pleasures he could enjoy in the mead hall (a place to eat and drink) among friends.

4. Night would blacken; it would snow from the north;

Forest bound the earth and hail would fall The coldest seeds.

Answer:

This (31-33) line has taken from the poem of “The Seafarer”. Here the actual meaning of this line are:

The shadows of night darkened,   it snowed from the north, frost bound the ground,      hail fell on the earth, coldest of grains.

Explanation:

Just when you thought the weather couldn't get any worse, it does. Night falls, bringing with it frost, snow, and hail. Instead of just saying that it gets dark, the speaker tells us that the "shadows of night darkened," which sounds far more ominous if you ask us.

 The speaker personifies frost by saying it "bound" the ground, just like it bound his feet in line 9.

 We've also got another metaphor here, "coldest of grains," which describes hail. The Anglo-Saxon word for grain here is corna, which means corn, seed, or berry. It's something you eat, and it's supposed to give you nourishment. Here, though, instead of feeding the speaker, the grain torments him.

5. Thus the joys of God

are Fervent with life, where life itself

Fades quickly into the earth.

Answer: This  line has taken from the poem of “The Seafarer”. Here the actual meaning of this line are:

Indeed hotter for me are the joys of the Lord   than               this dead life fleeting on the land

Explanation:

Apparently, the joys of the Lord are "hotter" for him than life on land. Calling the joys of the Lord "hot" in a poem so focused on the misery of being cold is high praise, indeed. Plus, when he talks about the joys of the Lord, he's comparing them to life on land. Could this mean that the joys of the lord are to be found at sea? Or could the sea be a metaphor for the joys of the Lord?  

6. The days are gone

when the kingdoms of earth flourished in glory

Now there are no rules, no emperors

No givers of gold, as once there were

when wonderful things were worked among them

And they lived in lordly magnificence

Those powers have vanished, those pleasure are dead

The weakest survives and the world continues

kept spinning by toil. All glory is tarnished

The world's honor ages and shrinks.

Answer:

This (80-89) lines has taken from the poem of “The Seafarer”. Here the actual meaning of this lines are:

The days are gone of all the glory          of the kingdoms of the earth; there are not now kings, nor Caesars,      nor givers of gold, as once there were when they, the greatest, among themselves performed valorous deeds and with a most lordly majesty lived.

All that old guard is gone           and the revels are over—the weaker ones now dwell and hold the world, enjoy it through their sweat. The glory is fled, the nobility of the world    ages and grows sere, as now does every man throughout the world.

Explanation:

·         After claiming that winning fame is the only way to live forever, the speaker implies that it has gotten a lot harder to do. Why? Because the glory days are over, folks.

·         A little history lesson might be useful, here, to give us some context: The Anglo-Saxons lived among the ruins of the Roman occupation of England. Unfortunately, they no longer possessed the know-how to rebuild. So everyday they were surrounded by the physical evidence of what the speaker says here: that "there are not now kings, nor Caesars […] as once there were."

·         Mentioning the loss of "givers of gold" implies that contemporary lords may not be as wealthy as lords once were. This loss confirms the speaker's belief, expressed in line 66, that the "riches of the world" do not last forever. Everything fades away.

·         In contrast to the disdain with which the speaker describes the worldly, wealthy "city-dwellers," here he seems completely in awe of his ancestors, describing them as living in "lordly majesty," almost like gods. Their wealth, however, shows just how dire the current state of affairs is. With no more kingdoms of the earth, perhaps he'll have to shift his focus to the kingdom of heaven, where things just might be looking up.

Basically, our guy is telling us the world has gone to pot. There are no longer noble kings or glory. We're left with only weak rulers as we waste away.

A lot of the language in these lines reminds us of lines 75-80, in which the speaker described the achievement of eternal life among heavenly Hosts through fame and brave deeds. Repeated words include duguþ (Host, or guard), dream (joy, revel), and blaed (glory). These words are all associated with the departed kings, linking them to the eternal life with the angels.

Though these departed kingdoms may possess eternal life because of their renown, the situation now is different: "weaker" ones walk the earth, and the people who are still left now enjoy the world only "through their sweat."

What's that all about? For one thing, it tells us that now, humans have to work much harder than those who came before them. But this line may also be a reference to the Fall of Man. After Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, God punished them and all of humanity by forcing the sons of man to work for their food by the "sweat of their brow" (Genesis 3:19). Way to get Biblical, dude.

The translator translates the Anglo-Saxon verb searian, which means to wither or dry up, to "grows sere." This verb compares the decay of these earthly kingdoms to the wilting of an unwatered plant. Here, though, it's the world's nobility that "grows sere." Can the world's nobility really wither away with time? According to this guy, absolutely.

This passage compares the aging and withering of the world's glory to the aging of a single individual. Just as every person grows old and wastes away, so does the glory of the world. So if we're all doomed to this fate, is there anything we can do about it?

7. Death leaps at the fools who forget their God.

 Answer:

This line has taken from the poem of “The Seafarer”. Here the actual meaning of this lines are:

A fool is the one who does not fear his Lord      – death comes to him unprepared.

Explanation:

This passage says that the fool who doesn't fear God is not prepared for death when it finally does come. We might take this lack of fear to mean something like arrogance or pride, which popped up in lines 26-30 with the poem's description of the "proud city-dweller."

8. Praise the Holy Grace of him who honored us,

    Eternal, unchanging creator of earth. Amen.

Answer:

This lines(122-125) has taken from the poem of “The Seafarer”. Here the actual meaning of this lines are:

Let there be thanks to God  that he adored us,  the Father of Glory, the Eternal Lord,

for all time. Amen.

• Although this passage is a simple prayer of thanks, we might also read it as an explanation for the existence of the "true home" of the previous lines: God adored mankind, so he made a home for them.
•  
• God is the "Father of Glory" and the "Eternal Lord" in ealle tid – "for all time." He's a stable guy, this God, and this stability is the ultimate contrast with all the relentless motion of the seas that we've seen throughout the first half of the poem.
•  
• And of course, how could we forget the "Amen"? The inclusion of this word tells us that we might read this poem, or at least its last few lines, as a kind of prayer, which leaves no doubt about the undercurrent of religious meaning that's been flowing throughout the lines. Turns out our seafarer is a pretty pious guy.
•