"The Wanderer"

Ok this is not the start of my essay just a disclaimer. I forgot my backpack and I don’t have a copy of the wanderer now so I am going to do my best on this essay with the lack of materials.

The short and fleeting period of life, the transitory nature of the world, often appears as a major theme in many works. Looking at symbols, motifs, diction, tone, imagery, write a well-developed essay in which you explore this theme in the Anglo-Saxon poem, “The Wanderer”. You will be graded on the following: hook, thesis statement, order of development, proof from the text and analysis of text (the last part is worth 40 and the rest 10 pts each). Note that just plain summation will lose points from the analysis section of the scoring. You can compare “The Wanderer” to BEOWULF in your analysis.

The Wanderer

Ever feel like walking, in no particular direction, just walking for the sake of walking, because you feel the need to constantly experience different things and be by yourself? Well, if you answered yes then you are in a similar boat to the main character in the poem The Wanderer. The big difference is that your people where not all murdered along with your king, president, or leader, and you are not left alone exiled and lonely to think about your thoughts. This Anglo-Saxon poem deals with a similar time period to Beowulf; it also deals with some of the same ideals.

The first thing that jumped off the page to me was the question of why did The Wanderer survive when everyone else died. The conclusion I came to was that he ran away from the fight. The reason I jump to this conclusion is because this poem shows The Wanderer as sort of a depressed lonely guy who is searching for a new king and talking about how guilty he feels and how upset he is that his “gift giver” is dead. This compares fairly well to the end of Beowulf when all of his warriors abandon him when he goes to fight the dragon. The reason this compares so well is because The Wanderer has the opposing view of the situation from Beowulf. Now, instead of seeing the abandonment of a king through the eyes of the king we see the aftermath of the split second decision through the eyes of The Wanderer. Through the eyes of The Wanderer we almost see regret or remorse. The thought of not having a king to give him gifts and provide for him gets under the wanderers skin. He wants that person their to lead him, to give mead to him, and to be the gold giver. The Wanderer talks about finding another king, because in my eyes he needs the attention. In a warrior/fame based culture a warrior who runs is frowned upon and never to be let back in to civilization. Whether the warrior was being smart by running or not it was more honorable to have died in the fight than to come back without a king. The warriors who run from Beowulf must have had to face this same feeling of being shunned or being the outcast.

The Wanderer talks about boasting in a very negative way. When he says that boasting should not be done if you cannot back it up on the battlefield I believe he is talking about himself. This shows his remorse. For someone to be able to say “I was to confident” takes a lot and there are two ways it can be said. The first is thinking back over the incident and having remorse or wishing you could take it back. The second is if you where talking to someone and admitting you where wrong. The thing is the Wanderer was by himself so it had to have been remorse. In Beowulf, Beowulf boasts A LOT, but he always seems to back up his boast. He comes through when it is most needed, and always seems to rise to the challenge. This is the opposite from a warrior who would boast of their abilities in battle and then run when the opportunity arises.

In conclusion,  \When you think of The Wanderer you have to wonder, was he a noble warrior or did he run and is now left to wander by himself for the rest of his time with no gold or gift giver, no mead provider, no time to boast, and no pride left. Is this how it feels to be a failed warrior?