Seafarer as an allegory :

An allegory is a figurative narrative or
description either in prose or in verse that
conveys a veiled moral meaning.

The seafarer is an old English poem of 124
lines. It is also called an Anglo- Saxon
elegy. The critics of are of different
opinions about its structures & themes.

Some critics observe the first part of the
poem up to 63 lines as a secular poem &
the second part from 54 to 124 as a
didactic one. Other view the whole poem
as an allegorical representation of human
exile from God on the sea of life.

The opening part of the poem
ostensibly discusses the miseries &
attractions of life at sea, before
moving by an abrupt transition to
moral reflection on transience of life &
ending in an explicitly Christian part ,
concluding with a prayer.

The whole scenario may be thought of
an allegorical representation of human
exile on the sea of life, Exile means
living in a foreign land away from
one’s home or abode. The life in exile
can not be as pleasant & conductive
as it in one’s own homeland.

The life span in this mortal world for the
human race has been considered as an exile
from the religious & Christian view point.
The seafarer gives an account of his life of
hardships & miseries on the sea, “ Sitting
day long at an oar’s end clenched against
clinging sorrow breast drought I have borne
& bitterness to.” Speaking allegorically the
sufferings & hardships of the Seafarer are
symbolical for the whole human race.

Adam our ancestral great father, has been
driven out of heaven , the place of eternal
bliss & happiness & thrown into this
mortal world of sufferings & deaths.
Allegorically, it implies that the whole
human race has been driven out from the
place of eternal happiness & thrown into
an exile of eternal hardships & sufferings
of this world.

From an eternally pure source, human
race is put into troubled water of life. The
Christian faith upholds that heaven is our
permanent abode. Life in this world is a
life of exile – temporary stay & life in this
world is, as if a troubled sea & we, the
human beings are having our voyage here
in an uncongenial living condition. Life in
this mortal world is a life of exile, because
life here is temporary & not eternal.

As a human being passes his life of exile
from his own home & country, the same is
the life of the Seafarer on the sea. He is
sea faring amidst all odds, obstacles,
hurdles & hostile conditions making his life
intolerably painful. He is away from his kith
& kin & no brothers or friends are around
to share his joys & sorrows.
 In
the voyage of this exile life, the Seafarer
realizes the eternal truth of life or the
moral reflection – that is life is transient or
transitory. “ I do not believe earthly estate
is everlasting” This life of the world will
come to an end sooner or later.

Finally, the Seafarer surrenders to the
Christian faith & upholds that only trust in
heavenly father can make a human soul
see its redemption or salvation. God is our
real abode. In him we must trust & to him
we must surrender. God, the Almighty is
our real protector. So, the life of the
Seafarer , his belief in seeking refuge in
God has been allegorically portrayed in
the poem by the poet.