at the end of the tenth century. The book consists of 131 parchment leaves which measure approximately 12.5 by 8.6 inches. The most famous works contained in the Exeter Book include “The Wanderer,” “The Wife’s Lament,” “The Seafarer,” and “Wulf and Eadwacer.” In addition to the 31 major poems, 96 riddles are also included in the collection. The manuscript was likely copied by a single scribe in 975, though “The Wanderer” is though to date back to the Anglo-Saxon tribes’ conversion to Christianity
Another poem that resembles The Wife’s Lament is Wulf and Eadwacer. In both of these poems, the speaker is interpreted to be a woman unlike other poems of the time. Wulf and Eadwacer is about a woman who has been involved with two men, the dreaded love-triangle. When the woman was separated from her lover, Wulf, she is taken into the comforting arms of another man, Eadwacer. This causes her much happiness but also pain over the lost love of Wulf. Thus the lament of this woman is very similar
The Absence of Women in Beowulf, The Wife's Lament, and the Battle of Maldon It could be argued that women are indeed present in the minority in surviving Anglo-Saxon poetry, and that therefore, they are made conspicuous through their absence. The fact they may appear less frequently in Old English Literature does not necessarily mean that women were any less significant in society at this time, although this is the conclusion reached by some. It is assumed that women did, in general, have less