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Comparing Exeter Poems The Seafarer, And The Wife's Lament

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Recommended: Roles of women in literature

What Does it Mean to You?

(An Analysis of Three Messages From the Three Exeter Poems)

In the Exeter book, there are three poems. Those three poems are called The Wanderer, The Seafarer, and The Wife’s Lament. There are many different messages that people could take from these poems. These people may also take each message differently. Three messages that could come from these Exeter poems are faith in God, fate, and forgiveness.

Having faith in God is one message from The Seafarer. In this poem, the main character is out at sea alone. He has nothing with him to survive on. No water, food, and he has no idea where he is. Even though the sailor is some what terrified of God, he knows that he need to overcome this fear. He says, “Praise the Holy grace of Him who honored us. Eternal, unchanging creator of earth. Amen.” (lines 122-124) He finally realizes that he needs to trust in God and he will lead him to where he needs to be.

In the poem The Wanderer, one message you could take from it would be fate. Everybody has a certain fate, and there is no changing that. In this poem, the main character is all alone. He is living in exile and has nobody. He was once with a group of people until one day he wasn’t. He once had happiness and everything he could have wanted until one day that was …show more content…

Most poems are written by men, yet this poem was written by a woman. It is a story about how her husband left her. She has no idea why and she wants to know why it had to happen to her. At first, she wants him to be happy, but hten she doesn’t. She realizes that if he left her and left her to lament and mourn, then he shouldn’t be able to be happy either. She says in the poem, “May on himself depend all his world’s joy. Be he outlawed in a strange folk-land.” (lines 45-47) This shows that she wants him to have some joy because she will always love him, but she also wants him to mourn and be unhappy like he left

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