“The Seafarer” is composed of elegiac and moralizing views. The poem can be read as a dramatic monologue or simply a dialogue between two people. The audience can see that the poem can be divided into two sections. The first section is a personal description of the suffering and attractions of life at sea. In the second section, the narrator takes a turn and talks about moral speculation about the momentary nature of fame, fortune, and life itself. It ends with a Christian view of God as wrathful and powerful. The narrator urges the reader to forget earthly accomplishments and anticipate God’s judgment in the afterlife. The poem contain both Christian and pagan ideas about overcoming the sense of suffering and loneliness. The narrator talks about the fearing of God’s judgment in the afterlife expressing Christian views, but also states about buried treasure and winning glory battles to express pagan views. “The Seafarer” is considered an allegory discussing life as a journey and the human condition as that exile in the sea. “The Wife’s Lament” is an elegiac poem expressing a wife’s feelings pertaining to exile. It is unclear to why the wife was exiled and separated from her husband. The poem conflates the theme of mourning over a departed leader with the theme of mourning of a departed lover. The poem has the motif of loneliness from exile and the longing for companionship is present. The loneliness she feels can be seen in numerous Anglos-Saxon texts and poems that talks about exile. This motif is constantly depicted through text as if to express the desire Anglo-Saxon people have for companionship in times of heartaches.
Both of the poems contain sentiments of longing for something. Both of the protagonists in the poems are experiencing loneliness from exile. Their exiles are different but the same. One is exiled from life with companionship, while one is separated from her beloved. They both longed to have some sort of companionship that would get them through the days. However, their exiles are for different reasons. The sailor is away from civilization to self reflect, while the wife is forces to leave her place in society. The usual motifs of exile and the sense of fate from it are present in the two poems. Overall, the sadness within the two poems can be seen. However, “The Seafarer is less depressing since the second half of the poem takes life in a more positive note. The message from the two poems is that loneliness can lead to despair, but we must learn to appreciate life upon the wyrd that God has in place for us. Both poems describe places in which life is uncomfortable, and the misery they feel in exile. The seafarer mourns the lack of a leader, while the wife mourns the lack of her husband companionship. However, the seafarer find solace in God to get by day by day.
Both of the poems contain sentiments of longing for something. Both of the protagonists in the poems are experiencing loneliness from exile. Their exiles are different but the same. One is exiled from life with companionship, while one is separated from her beloved. They both longed to have some sort of companionship that would get them through the days. However, their exiles are for different reasons. The sailor is away from civilization to self reflect, while the wife is forces to leave her place in society. The usual motifs of exile and the sense of fate from it are present in the two poems. Overall, the sadness within the two poems can be seen. However, “The Seafarer is less depressing since the second half of the poem takes life in a more positive note. The message from the two poems is that loneliness can lead to despair, but we must learn to appreciate life upon the wyrd that God has in place for us. Both poems describe places in which life is uncomfortable, and the misery they feel in exile. The seafarer mourns the lack of a leader, while the wife mourns the lack of her husband companionship. However, the seafarer find solace in God to get by day by day.
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