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THE WANDERER Analyzes reading materials using outlining, paraphrasing, summarizing, and comparing perspectives by demonstrating a critical analysis of history and the literature studied in class working in groups and/or individually.
Vocabulary • Exile: separationorbanishmentfromone’s native country, region, or home. • Wanderer: A personwhotravelsaimlessly; a traveler • Woe – Woefully: Great sorrowordistress • Weary: Feelingorshowingtiredness, especially as a resultofexcessiveexertionorlackofsleep. • Grievous: causing or characterized by severe pain, suffering, or sorrow a grievous wound a grievous loss. • Churning: toshakeoragitatewithviolence • Oar: a long pole with a broad blade at one end used for propelling or steering a boat • Wailed: to make a sound suggestive of a mournful cry • Wretched: deeply afflicted, dejected, or distressed in body or mind • Winsome: generally pleasing and engaging often because of a childlike charm and innocence • Slumber: tosleeplightly • Assaileth: toattackviolently • 0ft: often
The Themeof Exile • The theme of exile recurs throughout world literature; the medieval Italian poet Dante wrote Divine Comedy after being exiled from his beloved city of Florence; but this theme is expressed with memorable sadness and pain in Anglo-Saxon poetry. • We cannot understand what exile meant for an Anglo-saxon warrior until we understand what he meant by ‘home’
While we identify ourselves as citizens of a certain country, an Anglo-Saxon warrior view himself as the follower of a particular lord or King. The notion of loyalty towards one’s country, called patriotism today, did not exist. It was the lord himself that demanded allegiance, and of course there were many lords in what is now called England. The Anglo-Saxon word for ‘lord,’ hlaford, came from the word hlafweard, which means ‘Guardian of the Loaf’. The lord was the dispenser of bread and sustenance. He was also the dispenser of booty won in raids, or a ‘gold-lord.’ perhaps even more important, he guaranteed the security of his followers in a dangerous and uncertain world. In return he expected loyalty in war.The most important symbol of home was the mead-hall where the lord and his followers shared the warmth of fire, the comfort of food and drink, and the pleasures of hearing poetry recited. The pleasures of poetry were especially welcome when the scop praise the heroism of the listening warriors.
Let’skeep in mind the imageof the mead-hall while Reading ‘The Wanderer.’ the mead-hall was smoky, noisy, smelly, crowdedwith the feelingoffellowship. it was Home. Imagine what it meantfor a warriorto lose his lord and his place in the mead-hall.
Ubi sunt is a phrase taken from the Latin Ubi sunt qui ante nosfuerunt?, meaning "Where are those who were before us?" Ubi sunt, literally meaning, “where are?” in Latin, is also the name of a verse form traditionally used in Old English poetry. In the Ubi sunt poetic form, a narrator asks a series of questions that tend to take the form “Where are the ____ of yesterday?” or “Where has the _____gone?” The most commonly cited example of this verse form is the poem “The Wanderer.” While not adhering as strictly to the form outlined. The underlying feature of all Ubi Sunt poetry is an expression of loss for bygone days, and a reflection on the transitory nature of existence.
Ubi sunt A number of medieval European poems begin with this Latin phrase meaning “Where are they?” By posing a series of questions about the fate of the strong, beautiful, or virtuous, these poems meditate on the transitory nature of life and the inevitability of death. The phrase can now refer to any poetry that treats these themes.
wraecca • a word meaning “wretch, stranger, unhappy man, and wanderer”
Stoicism • a state where a human does not show or feel any emotion – completely indifferent, not just hiding feelings
Tone the attitude of a literary work toward its subject and the audience (formal vs. informal, humorous vs. serious)
Litotes a characteristic figure of speech in Old English poetry – a form of understatement in which a thing is affirmed by stating the negative of its opposite (think double negative) (ie. She was not unkind = She was kind)
Motif a recurring literary element that serves as the basis for expanding the narrative
First motif found in The Wanderer Ubi sunt que ante nosfuerunt? (Latin for – Where are they who before us went?) Lines 80 – 87 They are nostalgic or seeking the past.
The Wanderer in a nutshell A stoic wraecca is at sea remembering the mead-hall and his lost life.
Reading Poetry – in general Don’t stop at the end of a line, stop at the punctuation mark. The end of the line has to do with the “beat” of the line; it has nothing to do with the “meaning” of the line. Reading to the punctuation mark is called enjambment.
