Seafarer Heroic Qualities

However, other various Anglo-Saxon poems like The Wife's Lament or The Seafarer demonstrates heroic qualities in a unique fashion that differ from the traditional epic hero. For example in The Seafarer, the narrator is the hero of the poem. The narrator throughout the poem explains the different tribulations and hardships that he endures throughout his voyages on the open sea. He explains theses hardships stating, “Around my heart. Hunger tore/ At my weary soul. No man sheltered/ On the quiet fairness of earth can feel/ How wretched I was, drifting through winter/ On an ice cold sea whirled in sorrow" (l. 11-15). The narrator explains that the weather and open sea are the certain hardships that he has to endure each voyage. The author even states that he has a

Another instance where the narrator shows his heroic qualities is when he is trying to warn his readers saying, "God is mightier than any man's mind. Our thoughts should turn to where our home is,/ Consider the ways of coming there,/ Then strive for sure permission for us/ To rise to that eternal joy" (l. 118-122). The narrator demonstrates his compassion for his readers by warning them of the potential dangers if they don't change their ways. Although this interpretation of what the traditional hero is different, the Seafarer is a hero because of his selflessness in trying to warn his readers about the imminent afterlife and because he shows a determination to continue his message and his voyages. Another untraditional example of a hero is in A Wife's Lament, where a woman strives to move on in her life despite her husband leaving her. She explains her grief by stating, "My lord called to me to take up my hard dwelling here./ I had few loved ones in this country,/ Few devoted friends. For this my husband man,/ but a man with hard luck brooding in his heart" (l.