Exile In The Seafarer

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What comes to one's mind when they think about the word exile? If someone is imagining being banned, sent away from their country, home, city, and state, then they have a pretty good interpretation of being exiled. Exile, in this time, is a pretty extinct thing, but in the Anglo-Saxon period, maybe not near as much. In many stories from this time period one will find numerous accounts of people being exiled as a punishment for wrongdoing. Exile was used for punishment and being sent away from someone's homeland never to return. Returning after being exiled was punishable by imprisonment or death. There are many different types of exile, internal exile, external exile,self-imposed exile, and diaspora. Internal exile is when one is forced to resettle in his/her country of residence. A name you may be familiar with is Napoleon Bonaparte (Emperor of the French), was internally exiled on a Mediterranean island in 1813 after suffering many defeats, but later returned to regain power (“Famous Exiles in History”). Also a more …show more content…

The Seafarer is an Old English poem, based around the Anglo-Saxon time, that accompanies the other poem The Wanderer. This poem is 124 lines and is one of the most well-known elegies of all time. One could find it in The Exeter Book. In the beginning of the poem the Seafarer discusses all the hardships of living at the sea. The weather is either warm or freezing, very lonesome, and the waves are dangerously harsh. Even though the life on the sea is hard, the Seafarer wants to continue travelling on the sea due to the fact that that is what he knows how to do. He is scared that the life on earth is too materialistic for himself. How would he be able to fit in? The Seafarer eventually discusses the topic that God will apprehend every man and death will come for everyone. He is wanting us to accommodate room in our lives for Christian values. But when his Lord dies, he is forced to go into