Anglo-Saxon Ideals and Beliefs in Literature
Anglo-Saxon Ideals
Fate: The Anglo-Saxon belief in God and fate influenced their culture, outlook on life, and their own independent life paths. It is possible these sometimes contradictory ideals Pagans held so sacred are symbols of human beings’ timeless desire to separate their own behavior and the events of their lives. Fate is a disinclined method of rationalizing why things happen as they do, and a means of blaming occurrences on an unknown supremacy.
Kinship and Loyalty
Loyalty formed the backbone of Anglo-Saxon society and was the only way in which law and order could be maintained and people protected. Loyalty was also the only way through which men acquired wealth and fame. When a man’s oath of loyalty is broken, it is a betrayal to the highest value of the society.
The Importance of the Lord
The lord was the most important figure in Anglo-Saxon society. The lord gave rings, laws, and protection to his people. When a society is without its lord, nothing good is possible. As seen in The Seafarer and The Wanderer, when a man loses his lord, he wanders around helplessly, doomed to a life of weary exile. The Wanderer sails looking for a new “gold lord,” but when friends are no more, his fortune is exile. The Wanderer’s weary search for a new lord reflects what happens to society as a whole when their lord dies. They are lost and troubled without a leader, and his presence is fundamental to Anglo-Saxon society; without him, they would be doomed to the life of the Wanderer.
The Plight of the Wanderer
The Wanderer’s plight is that he has been exiled from his clan and forced to roam the land alone. Separation from his fellow kinsmen and lord seems to be the worst fate imaginable. The man speaks of his great loss, remembering the time when he was happy with his liege. The Wanderer lost his lord, kinsmen, and comrades in battle, and that’s why he was driven to exile.
In general, “the Wanderer” is seeking a new king or a “gold lord,” which is also a literary term called a kenning and can be referred back to Anglo-Saxon poetry. The Wanderer is sad because his king died. If he’s without a king, he’s without a job, and his way of life is incomplete.
Pagan and Christian Beliefs
Anglo-Saxon Pagan Elements:
- Everything that is worthy for a warrior (honor, loyalty to the lord, etc.)
- The idea that a man has to hide his feelings
- Dying for something
- Reward
- Fate
- Companionship
Christian Elements:
- Faith in God
- Idea of mercy/pity
- Fleetingness of life
There is a moralizing Christian frame which reshapes the whole message; faith in God is the only hope in life. In Christian terms, The Wanderer is a kind of allegory (a human being wandering).
The Wanderer’s Nostalgia
What does the Wanderer’s nostalgic reminiscing about horses and young warriors result in? What is the answer to his despair?
He looks back, and it brings him to realize that nothing lasts forever. Only faith in God will last. He tells the audience that if they are wise, they should think about God’s power and think about the dimness and fleetingness of this world. He allows them to remember the times of the past. There was a culture in which wealth was desirable, where friends were the essence of living, where immortality was held by the memories of men and women, and yet the Wanderer now has these people, for whom the word is law, say, “Here wealth is fleeting, here friend is fleeting, here man is fleeting, here woman is fleeting”–the final commitment to saying goodbye to their old ways.
Similarities with “The Wife’s Lament”
These are also elegies: lament for the loss of someone or something, first-person speaker, lament for the fleetingness of life, the transience of all worldly material achievements which are vain, etc. They show the same spirit of loneliness, solitude, and nostalgia. They are all connected to the sea (longing for something).