The Wanderer (poem)
The Wanderer is an Old English poem of the 10th century, which is preserved in the Exeter Book. It includes 115 alliterative verse. The date of origin is unknown, but is of high security before the year 1070 AD, as it is part of an older culture of oral tradition.
Classification
The Wanderer is assigned to a melancholy poem and the genre of elegy. At the same time it is an ubi sunt poem ("Where they are (at heart ) ?"), In which the loss of the clan of the speaker is complaining. With " HWAER cwom " ( " where they went ") is the Old English equivalent of ubi sunt even explicitly be found in this poem.
Language and content
The language of the poem is artful, the Old English alliteration is employed in a skilled manner, for example in Vs. 52f:
( " He welcomed joyfully, considered they would like the companions of the warrior" ).
Similarly, one finds examples of this treasured as art Kenning, replacing simple words with new compositions, such as " goldwine " (vs. 22, " gold - friend " ) for Mr. or King ( of his vassals with gold, in particular rings paid ), or " ferðlocan " (vs. 13, " treasure chest of the soul" ) for spirit or mind.
The speaker, a man of advanced age, recalls in this poem the happy days that he spent in the service of men, and the battles and tragedies that robbed him of his clan. He thinks about his isolation as the last of his race, and advocates that the warrior is to make informed decisions that can be carried away by anger to acts of neither greed nor consecrate him and his family in the long run to destruction.
Leitmotifs
In addition to the ubi sunt motif already mentioned above hikers can be seen the fate believing worldview of the Anglo-Saxons in the, which was ( probably added later ) blended with Christian elements.
The belief in the almighty fate occurs for example in Vs. 5 revealed: " Wyrd bid ful aræd " ( " Fate is inevitable! "); Christian influence is V.A. you in the last verse, where it says:
( " Well, it's for those who seeks forgiveness, comfort with the Father in heaven, in which all of our safety lies ").