Effects Of Mentality In The Wife's Lament

As we read through an array of short philosophical poems known as elegies, we can observe that many of these poems embody analogous situations, themes, or narratives. These elegies are often written about love and deprivation but despite their similar content, by juxtaposing these texts with one another, we can illuminate certain points and use one text to enlighten our understanding of another. By applying the information gathered on the narrator’s attitude in “The Wife’s Lament”, I will be exploring the effects of physical separation on the narrator’s mentality in “Wulf and Eaducer”. The perspective provided in “The Wife’s Lament” enables us to peer into the mind of the narrator and gain insight on how the effects of loneliness and separation affect her mental state and thought processes. On the other hand, “Wulf and Eaducer” sets up a situation that closely parallels the situation in “The Wife’s Lament”, but it does not offer much explicit information about the narrator’s mental state and mindset. By using the

She is tormented by the absence of her lord and involuntarily lives in isolation. As she describes her life, it is pertinent to scrutinize her word choices and tone. She grieves about having to “walk alone in the first light of dawn … where I must sit the summer-long day; / there I can weep for all my exiles, / my many troubles” (“The Wife’s Lament.” 35-37). She states that she is compelled to walk alone in the morning and then sit and lament over her grievances daily, as if she is physically forced to. She complains but accepts this circumstance and remains negligent to the option of engaging in other activities. She speaks as if the way her life is, is the way it must always be, highlighting her rigid mindset and inability to make light of the situation and accept the possibility of making changes to her