Student Essay on An Explication of the Seafarer

An Explication of the Seafarer

Summary:   "The Seafarer" can be categorized as Anglo-Saxon lyric poetry for its uses of kennings, pessimistic and fatalistic tones, poetic structure, themes that include love of the sea, loneliness and exile, fate or Wyrd, and added Christian perspective.

An Explication of "The Seafarer"

Anglo-Saxon lyric poetry is characterized by many unique traits. These traits are seen throughout such works in the tone, form, themes, and symbolism. An example of Anglo-Saxon lyric poetry is "The Seafarer." It is published in the Exeter Book, which is one of the few surviving collections of poetry from the Anglo-Saxon era. "The Seafarer" can be categorized as Anglo-Saxon lyric poetry for its uses of kennings, pessimistic and fatalistic tones, poetic structure, themes that include love of the sea, loneliness and exile, fate or Wyrd, and added Christian perspective.

The Seafarer is a monologue of the struggles one man against the sea and his desires for company. The man has an obligation to sail the sea for his entire life. He listens to his conscience and fulfills his duty because he has lived on the sea his entire career. He knows the hardships of the treacherous waters and he does not wish them upon anyone else. Even though life upon the sea is wearisome and lonely, the seafarer he does not feel comfortable on land. The icy waters are his home. The power of the sea enthralls him and gives him his will to persevere in his loneliness. Since the seafarer obeys his conscience and serves his duty to the sea, his actions support the phrase "A man's character determines his fate." The sailor knows that heaven awaits him after his duty to the sea is fulfilled. He believes that all his actions in life to please others as well as to please himself will be crossed over into the afterlife and he believes that God will accept him into heaven for his devotion.

There is a conflict in "The Seafarer," between the sailor's love and hate relationship with the sea. The sea causes many sorrows and hardships to come upon the sailor, especially during the winter, but he has lived his entire life facing the toils of the sea. He loves the sea because of its beauty and mystique. He lives with fate or Wyrd day-by-day on the sea, but has the constant thought of what comes after death, and how heaven will always await him.

In part one of "The Seafarer" the tone is that of lamentation. The poet portrays loneliness and hardship. The poet uses alliteration throughout the work, a pattern that is characteristic of Anglo-Saxon lyric poetry. His scheme is typically two alliterating words on one side of the caesura and one on the other. Around line twenty-five, the tone changes to fatalistic. From lines thrity to thirty-five, the Anglo-Saxon irresistibility of the sea appears. At this point in the poem, the tone becomes stoic. Fate is emphasized in lines thirty-nine through forty-three. Ubi Sunt is used in lines forty-seven through fifty-three, "Orchards blossom, the towns bloom, fields grow lovely as the world springs fresh."(48-49).

Kennings are also used throughout "The Seafarer." One is found in line fifty-three, "summer's sentinel," referring to a cuckoo. Another kenning is "whales' home"(59-60). The tone turns to pessimism at this point in the poem, specifically around line fifty-four. Exile and loneliness reoccur as themes. Another element is also found around line sixty-five. This is appended Christian moralizing. At various time throughout "The Seafarer," the downtrodden, lonely man, a pagan ideal, is emphasized, then soon after, the poem begins to speak of the wonders and greatness of God. This was probably the result of Christian monks who translated the poem adding in Christian virtue.

Later in the poem the Anglo-Saxon desire for fame and reputation appears around line seventy-five. "The praise the living pour on the dead flowers from reputation: plant an earthly life of profit reaped...(72-74)" is an example of this longning for reputation. Following this series of worldly ideas, there is more Christian moralizing. From line seventy-eight to eighty the poem speaks not of worldly pleasure, such as reputation and fame, but of heavenly profit gained on earth.

Another kenning is used to describe a king in line eighty-three. The term "givers of gold" is used to designate a king or lord. From this point on, the poem takes on a tone of stoicism. There is more appended Christian moralizing in "the Seafarer" from line ninety-nine through the end of the poem. In line one hundred eight the monk who translated the work attempts to counter the Anglo-Saxon vanity of human aspirations. He does this by contradicting the prideful Anglo-Saxon ideal. In line one hundred fifteen the monk attempts to counter the ideal of Anglo-Saxon Wyrd or fate. He writes "God mightier than any man's mind (116). Anglo-Saxon lyric poetry has many defining qualities about it. "The Seafarer" can be categorized as Anglo-Saxon lyric poetry for its uses of kennings, pessimistic and fatalistic tones, poetic structure, themes that include love of the sea, loneliness and exile, fate or Wyrd, and added Christian perspective.