The Anglo-Saxon poems, “The Wanderer,” “The Seafarer,” and “The Wife’s Lament”
The Old English, or Anglo-Saxon, era of England lasted from about 450-1066 A.D. The tribes from Germany that conquered Britain in the fifth century carried with them both the Old English language and a detailed poetic tradition. The tradition included alliteration, stressed and unstressed syllables, but more importantly, the poetry was usually mournful, reflecting on suffering and loss.1These sorrowful poems from the Anglo Saxon time period are mimetic to the Anglo-Saxons themselves; they reflect the often burdened and miserable lives and times of the people who created them. The Anglo-Saxon poems, “The Wanderer,” “The Seafarer,” and “The Wife’s Lament,” are three examples how literature is mimetic, for they capture the culture’s heroic beliefs of Fame and Fate, the culture’s societal structure, and religious struggle of the Old English time period: making the transition from paganism to Christianity.
In order to understand how these poems mirror the Anglo-Saxons’ lives, one must know a little history about the culture. In the fifth century, the inhabitants of the island of Britain hired German mercenaries to defend them against their warring neighbors, the Picts and the Scots. 2 After having defeated the enemies, the pagan Angles, or Saxons, revolted against their former allies, the Britons, killing everyone, no matter what their status or occupation, destroyed towns and buildings, and drove out Christianity, the Britons’ religion. The conquerors were Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Franks, and Frisians, but they all had a similar culture so they became known as Anglo-Saxons. 3
Anglo-Saxons set up Germanic kingdoms, each one ruled by a lord. In the...
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...Norton & Company, 1975.
B. Journal Articles
Bruce, Alex. “Exploring the Soul: The Wanderer’s Search for Meaning.” Matheliende.
Volume III, Number I (Fall, 1995). http://parallel.park.uga.edu/~abruce/mathiii1.html
C. Web Sites
Anglo-Saxon England. Internet WWW page, at URL:
http://encarta.msn.com/find/concise.asp?ti=761572205&sid=26#s26
Anglo-Saxon Life—Kinship and Lordship. Internet WWW page, at URL:
http://www.britainexpress.com/History/anglo-saxon_life-kinship_and_lordship
The Anglo-Saxon Period. Internet WWW pate, at URL:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/3878/Saxon.html
English Literature. Internet WWW page, at URL:
http://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?z=1&pg=2&ti=761558048
St. Vede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Internet WWW page at URL:
http://www.ocf.org/OrthodoxPage/reading/St.Pachomius/bede1_15.html
David Denby thoroughly explains the distinction between the reality of high school life to what is portrayed in movies in the article, “High-School Confidential: Notes on Teen Movies.” He argues that many of these movies are extremely predictable and all have the same story line. Denby gives numerous examples of the cliché teen movie, which entails the skinny, blonde popular girl and her jock boyfriend who, let’s face it, has his shining moments in life, in high school. Denby’s main objective throughout this article is to distinguish whether these films reflect reality, or just what we imagine to be reality. He also touches on the other side of the social spectrum which usually consists of a quiet, female outsider who is known to be smart and
Everett, Nicholas From The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-century Poetry in English. Ed. Ian Hamiltong. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994. Copyright 1994 by Oxford University Press.
The first example deals with body image. In the very beginning of the movie, the ‘Plastics’ bring Caty back to Regina’s house. One of the first things they do is look at themselves in front of the mirror and talk about their body or face and pick at what is wrong with it. One of them says they have man shoulders, one says they have big pores on their face, and the other one talks about her nail bed. This reminded me of how adolescents start to worry about their body image. They are influ...
In the beginning, it all started with the gods and goddesses Cronus (God of the Sky) and Rhea (Goddess of the Earth). They met and got married. While they were married they produced six offspring. These offspring would turn out to be some of the most famous in mythology. The offspring consisted of Hestia, Hades, Poseidon, Demeter, Hera, and of course, the famous Zeus. Poseidon was the oldest son to be born from these two. Unfortunately when the offspring were born Cronus devoured most, even though Rhea tried many times to keep that from happening. Finally when Zeus was born she tricked Cronus into thinking it was his own son, when handed to him, and he eat him like all the others. But after doing so, Rhea told Cronus that she had given him a stone wrapped up in a blanket. Zeus later overthrew his father and released all of his other kin. After overthrowing Cronus, Zeus took over the ruler of the kingdom. With him taking the thrown on Mt. Olympus, he chose Hades to rule the underworld and Poseidon to look after the sea and land. Poseidon was a very powerful god and ruled with fury. He was made the god of waters in general and of the sea in particular (1). He is an equal in dignity to Zeus but not in power. This is important because it does not allow Poseidon to question his br...
Poseidon is a god of many names. He is most famous as the god of the sea. The son of Cronus and Rhea, Poseidon is one of six siblings who eventually "divided the power of the world." His brothers and sisters include: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Zeus. The division of the universe involved him and his brothers, Zeus and Hades. Poseidon became ruler of the sea, Zeus ruled the sky, and Hades got the underworld. The other divinities attributed to Poseidon involve the god of earthquakes and the god of horses. The symbols associated with Poseidon include: dolphins, tridents, and three-pronged fish spears.
I think the lord/vassal relationship included protection, but it had a lack of trust. In the Letter to William of Aquitaine, Bishop Fulbert of Chartres explains that the vassal must do things for the name of his lord with six traits in order to be considered worthy. The traits are harmless, safe, honorable, useful, easy, and possible. If the vassal cannot withhold these traits, the Lord is given the right to deny the vassal the land. Based off of Agreement between Lord and Vassal, I think the lord’s over stepped the power. The vassals did their jobs and protected the lord, but the lord did not hold his promises of giving them land. A lack of trust between the lord and vassals is created, but the lord is able to convince his vassal to keep
This film contains some classic examples of the kinds of real life issues adolescents deal with. Issues such as popularity, peer relationships, family/sibling relationships, sex, and struggles with identity are all addressed in this ninety-minute film.
The adolescence is proposing questions of self-identity and trying to understand more of self during these years. Mean Girls emphasizes these self-identifications by capturing different cliques and group of people that the high schoolers associate and label themselves as. For instance in the film, Cady is being accepted by Janis and Damian, but they want Cady to engage in a risky behavior by associating herself as “The Plastics.” This plan started out with the intention of trying to find out more high school secrets and to humiliate “The Plastics,” but Cady turned more like them as she received more acceptance by them. Mean Girls demonstrates not only the sense of self emerging during the adolescent age, but the struggles of all it takes to find a sense of self-identity. Cady eventually put her relationship with Janis and Damian, parents, and acquaintances of school on the line by trying to maintain her “Plastic”
Sorkin, Michael., Mildred S. Friedman, Frank O. Gehry, Frank O.Gehry Associates. Gehry Talks: architecture + Process. New York: Universe Publishing: Distributed to the U.S trade by St. Martin’s Press, 2002.
Leeming, David Adams. “The Anglo Saxons.” Elements of Literature, Sixth Course: Literature of Britain. Ed. Kristine E. Marshall. 1997. 10. Print.
Not only does Anglo Saxon poetry establish their strong cultural desire for fame, it also illustrates the social significance of having loyalty. This can be seen while the wanderer travels around the sea and dreams of his now deceased lord, “it seems in his mind that he clasps and kisses/ his lord of men, and on his knee lays, hands and head, as he sometimes long ago/in earlier days enjoyed the gift-throne” (“The Wanderer” ll. 42-25) Here it shows the heart of his relationship to his lord. Similarly loyal relationships are a keypoint in Beowulf, when Hrothgar's army grows strong, “Friends and kinsmen flocked to his ranks,” (Beowulf ll. 65) illustrating that with a strong sense of security comes a strong bond and responsibility towards the
When I was younger I thought my sister was always going to be there. I never thought she would die so young. She died when I was in 5th grade so I was around 10 or 11 years old. We had our fights and now I wish more then anything that she was here. She missed my first homecoming, my graduation and many other important dates in my life and there is still more she will miss. Now that I'm the only child in my household, it’s terrible because...
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It was Friday night, I took a shower, and one of my aunts came into the bathroom and told me that my dad was sick but he was going to be ok. She told me that so I did not worry. I finished taking a bath, and I immediately went to my daddy’s house to see what was going on. My dad was throwing-up blood, and he could not breath very well. One of my aunts cried and prayed at the same time. I felt worried because she only does that when something bad is going to happen. More people were trying to help my dad until the doctor came. Everybody cried, and I was confused because I thought it was just a stomachache. I asked one of my older brothers if my dad was going to be ok, but he did not answer my question and push me away. My body shock to see him dying, and I took his hand and told him not to give up. The only thing that I heard from him was, “Daughters go to auntie...
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