Seafarer Flashcards
Mind / Soul / Heart
The seafarer has suffered ‘bitter breast cares’
His cares feel ‘hat ymb heortan’ hot about my heart
gebiden hæbbe ‘grim sorrows at heart’
Image of the sea-weary mind shows how the soul/mind can wander
Forþon cnyssað nu / heortan geþohtas ‘therefore they are troubled now / the thoughts of my heart’
Urges the ‘sefan to siþe’ (mind to travel)
Christianity
Experiences earfoðhwile- days of struggle
He describes yearning for something foreign
He denounced ‘worulde hyht’ (worldly glory) in favour of spiritual salvation
He speaks of how a warrior who knows these worldly things cannot know what he does in exile
He speaks of this ‘deade lif’ in contrast to his life in heaven
He describes how he will go to a foreign land, and this is ambiguous as to whether it is literal or allegorical: either way , the denouncement of home and worldly joys can easily be stretched to mean death and journey to the afterlife
Natural Imagery
Wintry weather echoes wintry existence
The Seafarer is tossed by cliffs
The weather is freezing cold on his hands
He is alone on the sea
The calls of birds have replaced those of men and the mead-hall
Transience
Speaks of the transience of worldly joys, and the riches of the world
He is also aware that human life will soon pass
Criticism
‘The Old English Elegies’, from Hero and Exile (STANLEY B. GREENFIELD)
‘the Christian use of the concept of exile as an allegory of man’s life on earth’
it ‘insists on the active pursuit of eternal values’
