Imagery Patterns in The Seafarer and The Wanderer

A detailed Summary of Imagery Patterns in The Seafarer and The Wanderer

The Anglo-Saxon society was a combination of the Jutes, the Anglos, and the Saxons. It was through this combination that the values of this one culture evolved. Anglo-Saxons lived their lives according to values such as masculine orientation, transience of life, and love for glory. Contradictory to the belief that the Anglo-Saxons' values are outdated, one will find when taking a closer look that most of the values are, in fact, still present in today's society. Most of the literature from that time period, lasting from 449-1066, is by unknown authors. The oral tradition practiced by the Anglo-Saxons made it possible for the pieces to be passed down and still be in existence today. When many of the pieces were finally written down the took on a poetic style. Through the examination of these poems, both universal and cultural themes become present. In "The Seafarer" and "The Wanderer," both being poems from the Anglo-Saxon time period, the anonymous authors portray the universal theme of the harshness of life through imagery patterns of the sea and winter, and in the conclusion of both poems it becomes evident to the subjects of the poems that the only way they will find contentment in life is if they accept the fact that t

he things that happen to them are all a part of God's plan.In both poems the unknown authors use the imagery of the sea to represent the trials of life. In both, the reader must understand that the theme presented, the harshness of life, has had a specific impact on the character in the poem. They have had a personal experience that has lead them to the conclusion that this theme is relevant in everyone's life. The opening of "The Seafarer" proves this to be true as the very first line states "This tale is true and mine." This brings to the reader's awareness that the "tale" of the poem is an experience of the poem's character. Immediately after that, the writer uses the imagery of the sea to illustrate the theme of the harshness of life. "It tells/ How the sea took me swept me back/ And forth in sorrows and fear and pain." In reading this poem it becomes obvious that life is represented by the sea. In this line the person is saying that that he has been swept away by the trials of life. The author continues with the imagery of the sea throughout the entire piece. "Showed me suffering in a hundred ships,/ In a thousand ports and in me. It tells/ Of the smashing surf when I sweated in the cold/ Of an anxious watch, perched in the bow/ As it dashed under cliffs My feet were cast." Through the next few lines the author shows the reader that man is scared of life and what it has in store for him in the same way that he is scared on a ship out at sea. The author uses the feeling of this person out at sea, "when I sweated in the cold/ Of anxious watch" as a parallel to the anxiousness and fear of what life will bring. In describing the man's soul as being "sea weary," the author is demonstrating man's lack of control over his life. The waves of the sea, and the sea itself, are uncontrollable and this is how the person in the poem feels about his life and his soul. "The only sound was the roaring sea." This suggests that the hardships of life overpower other aspects of the person's life. Roaring implies something being extremely loud and unavoidable, indicating that the harshness of life is always staring one in the face and cannot be escaped. The reference that the author to "the freezing waves" also represents the unavoidable difficult times in life. Here the word "freezing" brings to mind extreme coldness, being trapped, and even death. The next referral to the sea reinforces this theory, "To a soul left drowning in desolation." The person in the lyric feels as though he is drowning, being pulled under because he can't cope with the harshness of life. The hardships of his life diminish any of the good times he may experience. The word "desolation," implies that the person in the poem feels like he will drown in his sorrows all alone in the same way that he has been left alone to deal with life itself. Continuing to express the theme, the writer uses the lines "And how my heart/ Would begin to beat, knowing once more/ The salt waves tossing and towering sea." These lines create the image of this person being tossed about by the waves; being thrown from one difficulty to the next. He is unable to escape them.In "The Wanderer," like "The Seafarer," it is also necessary for the reader to understand the personal connection that the person in the poem has with the theme. In "The Wanderer," the subject of the poem is seeing the harshness of life through the experience of losing someone, a comrade, who was close to him. The narrator expresses how the subject feels in the following lines that state, "Though woefully toiling on wintry seas/ With the churning of the oar in the icy wave,/ Homeless and helpless he fled from fate." The subjec

Some common words found in the essay are:
Wanderer Seafarer, Seafarer Wanderer, Heaven Wanderer, Anglos Saxons, Seafarer Amen, Holy/ Grace, harshness life, , imagery patterns, hardships life, God God, trials life, trust god, imagery sea, person poem, hard times, times life, theme harshness, theme harshness life, god mightier man's, sweated cold/ anxious, mightier man's mind, seeking gold lord,

Approximate Word count = 2476
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels