“The Seafarer,” “The Wanderer,” and
“The Wife’s Lament”
Paganism
 Belief in the old gods (Viking) and nature worship
 Most of Europe could have been considered pagan
before Christianity spread north from Rome, Italy.
Christianity
 Belief in one God with Jesus as His son.
 All other forms of worship are sinful according to
Christian commandment; therefore, all other forms of
worship are pagan (or heathen).
The only Anglo-Saxon poems that have survived had to
have been written down. The only people educated
enough to know how to read and write were mostly
Christian monks, clergy, etc. When they wrote these
poems down, they probably Christianized them.
“The Seafarer”
 This poem is an old Anglo-Saxon poem, probably
spoken before Christianity came north, but then
written down by a Christian monk.
Group Activity
 Group One: What is the poem about?
 Group Two: Which 3 different lines sound “Christian”?
Be ready to read them and explain.
 Group Three: Which 3 different lines sound “pagan”?
Be ready to read them and explain.
 Group Four: What words could you use that describes
the mood of the poem? Choose a part from the poem
that creates the mood.
 Group Five: What is the poem trying to say about life?
“The Wanderer”
 Again, this is an old pre-Christian Anglo-Saxon poem.
Notice how there are 2 voices in this poem: a kind of
narrator and the wanderer. A lot of the original poem
is probably here with the intrusive narrator voice
included.
Group Activity
 Group One: What is the poem about?
 Group Two: Which 3 different lines sound “Christian”?
Be ready to read them and explain.
 Group Three: Which 3 different lines sound “pagan”?
Be ready to read them and explain.
 Group Four: What words could you use that describes
the mood of the poem? Choose a part from the poem
that creates the mood.
 Group Five: What is the wanderer himself trying to
say about life? The narrator?
“The Wife’s Lament”
 What a great and amazing little poem.
 Do you realize how rare it was for a woman’s voice to
even be considered important, let alone be the voice of
a piece of writing?
 Notice how this poem actually has very little Christian
influence. It’s probably very close to the original
version.
Group Activity
 Group One: What is the poem about?
 Group Two: What events lead to the wife’s exile?
 Group Three: How does she feel about her husband
(her “lord”)?
 Group Four: What words could you use that describes
the mood of the poem? Choose a part from the poem
that creates the mood.
 Group Five: Generalize what this poem is
demonstrating about the lives of women at that time.