The exeter book is our only surviving source for most works it contains, the most famous of which are the wanderer, the seafarer, widsith, wulf and eadwacer, the wifes lament, and a great collection of the witty riddles at which the old english poets excelled. The anglosaxon chronicle heres a history of anglosaxon england as written by the ultimate experts anglosaxons themselves. The exeter book although we werent able to find a picture of the seafarer in its original manuscript form, you can view other similar poems from the exeter book, including the wanderer. It snowed from the north, binding the earth in ice.
Like the companionpoem the wanderer, which is found alongside it in the exeter book, the seafarer is spoken by a lone individual. All three poems survive in the exeter book, a manuscript of anglosaxon poems produced by a single scribe around a. The wanderer goes on to recall the hardships he has faced in his life, like watching his kinsmen be ruined and even slaughtered. The seafarer summary the seafarer is an ancient anglosaxon poem in which the elderly seafarer reminisces about his life spent sailing on the open ocean. The seafarer is found in exeter, cathedral chapter library, ms 3501, the exeter. View the seafarer ppt 1 from english 1010 at ellicott senior high school. Seafarer, the ocamb major reference works wiley online.
The exeter book, an anglosaxon poetry anthology dating back more than 1,000 years, which has inspired writers from wh auden to jrr tolkien, has. It has most often, though not always, been categorised as an elegy, a poetic genre commonly assigned to a particular group of old english poems that reflect on spiritual and earthly melancholy. The seafarer an anonymous poem of uncertain date, was. Both the wanderer and the seafarer in these two poems are outcasts who are no longer part of their tribe or family. The seafarer is an anonymous anglosaxon eulogy that was found in the exeter book.
He cannot avoid going to sea, however, because this life is his fate. Its been translated multiple times, most notably by american. Hes a traveler in exile on the sea yearning for home and, as it turns out, god and we get to hitch a ride on his journey. Mike bintley explores these poems, which include the wanderer and. In summary, the seafarer opens with an avowal that the story that follows is autobiographical. The poem begins with the wanderer asking the lord for understanding and compassion during his exile at sea. Exeter book the wanderer summary and analysis gradesaver. The seafarer is an old english poem giving a firstperson account of a man alone on the sea. Exeter book the seafarer summary and analysis gradesaver. Unlike the wanderer, it is slightly easier for modern readers to understand, because there are fewer vague passages that require interpretation. Unesco lists exeter book among worlds principal cultural. The exeter book, exeter cathedral library ms 3501, also known as the codex exoniensis, is a tenthcentury book or codex which is an anthology of anglosaxon poetry. About the seafarer 1st hour the seafarer is an anglosaxon poem found in the exeter book, or the codex exoniensis, which was transcribed by christian monks in the tenth century. The seafarer is one of the most famous anglosaxon elegies and is found only in the exeter book.
The seafarer an anonymous poem of uncertain date, was found in the exeter book, one of the four important collections of anglosaxon poetry that has survived. The poem consists of 124 lines, followed by the single word amen and is recorded only at folios 81 verso 83 recto of the exeter book, one of the four surviving manuscripts of old english poetry. The elegies of the exeter book the british library. The seafarer, with other poems including the wanderer in lesson 8, is found in the exeter book, a latter 10th century volume of anglosaxon poetry. It is one of the four major anglosaxon literature codices, along with the vercelli book, nowell codex and the c. Composed in old english, the poem is a monologue delivered by. The exeter book preserved in the library of exeter cathedral. In this weeks dispatches from the secret library, dr oliver tearle analyses a minor classic of. The poem consists of 124 lines, followed by the single word. It is one of the elegies inscribed in the exeter book, though it shares features with gnomic poetry, a subgenre of wisdom literature. In addition to these and other secular poems, the exeter book contains religious verse, nearly 100 riddles, and a heroic narrative. The poems in the exeter book known as the old english elegies focus.