A Psychoanalytical Analysis Of The Poem 'The Wanderer'

The Wanderer; A Psychoanalytical Analysis

Often times when analyzing literature from past time periods, we are able to use modern theories to gain a better understanding of the underlying feelings and emotions within the text. In the poem The Wanderer, the author uses the bargaining, depressive, and acceptance stages of grief within the Wanderer’s mental thoughts and processes by describing his feelings as an exiled man when using a modern day analysis. Today, we know these five stages of grief from the two theorists Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and David Kessler. Although there are five stages (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance), the wanderer is only experiencing three of those five stages which can be felt in any order and at any time. The wanderer talks of all of his past relationships and how he feels upset that he can no longer see or share life experiences with these individuals. He paints visualizations for the

As he, the Wanderer speaks kindly, he explains that “ A wise man must be patient not too hot of heart nor hasty of speech, not reluctant to fight nor too reckless, not too timid nor too glad, not too greedy, and never eager to commit until he can be sure. A man should hold back his boast until that time has come when he truly knows to direct his heart on the right path”. This quote reveals the acceptance aspect within the five stages of grief which he is experiencing throughout the poem. The Wanderer speaks of patience and how to be calm and in lack of better words, indifferent about quite a lot of things. This is a side of him which is more calm, understanding, and accepting. He realizes he is in exile and there really is nothing he nor anyone else can do about it. By accepting his life, (luck and fate in all) of being in exile, it makes for a much calmer journey(for the time that these emotions