The Seafarer (poem)

The Seafarer is an Old English poem. Folio on 81- 83v of the Exeter book is to be found. There is extensive research on this poem. Often referred to as the elegy, the poem with issues such as worldliness and otherworldliness, happiness and the (Christian) life is concerned. An important topos is the question of the transience of earthly things ( ubi sunt - motif). Most The Seafarer is mentioned in connection with a similar poem called The Wanderer. The two poems agree in type and content mostly alike, with The Wanderer is to settle on a less concrete level than The Seafarer.

The text

The lyrical I of the poem is on a boat on a sea, which probably is located in a northern region, because even to input the immense cold of the environment is described. The lyric I goes below continued to portray his suffering, especially the winter:

Hu Ic earmecearig īscealdne sǽ winter wunade wræccan diverter winemǽgum bidroren, bihongen hrīmgicelum. Hael scūrum flēag. þǽr ic ne gehŷrde butane hlimman sǽ, īscaldne wǽ.

How can I, poor and sad being, in ice-cold lake, spent the winter, on the paths of exile without a country men / friends. Hail flew into storms, Then ( at that time) I heard nothing except the growling of the sea, the icy waves

In a second section the lyric I go on to describe the transition to spring and summer. Here the first appearances of other creatures on: Birds accompany the sailor, the cuckoo as " sumeres weard " ( Guardian of the summer ) already refers to the coming winter.

In a second, more abstract part is referred to the Christian view of life. The seafarer remains as the only hope of the transience of earthly things and the infinity of the afterlife. Particularly worth mentioning is the tension between courtly world and the loneliness of the sea as well as on the contrast between land and sea.

The lyrical I

In research, you are uncertain about whether it is the poem is a monologue or a dialogue. The apparent change of perspective from L.50 to a more positive rating of Seefahrens gives cause to believe that it is (negative approach) and a young sailor could (positive view) be a dialogue between an older sailor. However, research tends to take a single lyrical I and thus presupposing a monologue. Is supported this thesis by the thought of an experienced sailor who knows the disadvantages and the advantages of the lake.

The Seafarer and The Wanderer

Cases, the two elegies are called together. It is in the latter, probably a kind of abstraction of the Seafarer poem: The reasons for this are firstly the fact that The Seafarer far more concrete the lyrical I describes as The Wanderer. A second aspect is that in The Wanderer, only a single row can be regarded as a concrete moment, namely the scene with the vanishing seabirds ( The Wanderer, L.45 -47 ).