Poems ”The Seafarer”, ”The Wanderer”, and ”The Wife’s Lament”

Out of a bad situation, you can learn and grow. In all three poems, The Seafarer, The Wanderer, and The Wife’s Lament the main character was exiled causing great pain and sorrow. Through this pain and sorrow they saw some beauty in the situation.

In The Seafarer the character is on his ship hopelessly lost at sea. He suffers from loneliness, sadness and pain from being lost at sea. In the poem he says “How the sea took me, swept me back And forth in sorrow and fear and pain.” ( The Seafarer pg 17) It also showed that he felt hopeless, like there is nothing he can do in his will to make the situation better. When he said “No kinsman could offer comfort there, To a soul left drowning in desolation” (pg 18) On top of being lonely and sad, the weather was not pleasant at all; “My feet were cast In icy bonds, bound with frost.” (pg 17) The weather was freezing cold and unpleasant. Even though he was suffering from being exiled, he found beauty in the situation. “My soul roams with the sea, the whales Home, wandering to the widest corners.” (pg 18) His curiosity about the world reached a climax, even through the misery. Also, in the end, what really matters is God and heaven. We should not be attached to worldly things, but to our home in heaven; also in the end you will have eternal joy with God. ” To rise to that eternal joy, That life born in the love of God And the hope of Heaven. Praise the Holy Grace of Him who honored us.” (pg 20)

In The Wanderer the main character is also faced with exile. The death of his dear lord caused him to wander aimlessly in search for a new home. Searching for the new home was not an easy task either physically or emotionally. “When the dark earth covered my dear lord’s face, And I sailed away with sorrowful heart.”(The Wanderer pg 21) This really hurts his heart because he is homesick and misses his lord. He longs for the love that the lord had shown him when he was alive. “The longing for a loved one, his grief is renewed.” (pg 23) He could not stop grieving about the lose of his lord; ” Even in slumber his sorrow assaileth.” (pg22) He too found beauty in the exile. The wanderer gained wisdom from the journey. “No man may know wisdom till many had winter.” (pg 23) It means in life you will face many challenges, and through the challenges you grow and become wiser.

No one likes to be rejected; in The Wife’s Lament, by the orders of the husbands kinsman, the wife is exiled for forever. The wife was not at all happy about this; “For this my heart grieves.” (The Wife’s Lament pg 25) She has all different mixed emotions, she is angry at her husband for going along with this, but she is saddened because she doesn’t understand what she did to have this done to her, and she still loves him. She is hopelessly wandering the forest, sobbing about the exile. “There I may sit the summerlong day there I can weep over my exile my many hardships.” (pg26) The beauty in the poem is she still really loves her husband, and wants his happiness, even though she may not bring that happiness. She realizes that he also is smiling on the outside, but on the inside is sorrowful. “May that you man be sad-minded always hard his

heart’s thoughts while he must wear a blithe bearing with care in the breast a crowd of sorrows.” (pg26)
Through the tough times in life, there is some sort of beauty. Sometimes you cannot see the beauty at the time, but looking back you do. In the poems The Seafarer, The Wanderer, and The Wife’s Lament, they all face the hardship of being exiled, but in the exile, they find beauty.