The spiritual growth of the wanderer appears to be enforced on him due to the cultural changes in his surroundings. It is questionable if the speaker sees faith as the solution for his loneliness or if he prefers his past as a warrior. However, this leads directly to one of the main questions of the poem: how is that loss presented, is it a longing for the past or a personal experience? Regarding the ending, there arise even more questions concerning the contrast of Christian or Anglo-Saxon values. Basically, the speaker talks of his exile since his lord and kinsmen are gone and he is left alone without anything familiar. Regarding that, the cause of his mourning is of great interest. Form and content complement each other, the genre of the elegy emphasizes the loss he expresses. Here, the speaker is definitely concerned with loss and grieve about his past. The poet can also express his loss of a certain ideal or status which is the case in The Wanderer. Lamenting and mourning for somebody beloved is the main topic and intent of an elegy although it does not always have to be a person who died. The elegy is a classic form originating in Greek poetry: “Elegy, meditative lyric poem lamenting the death of a public personage or of a friend or loved one by extension, any reflective lyric on the broader theme of human mortality.”(Encyclopaedia Britannica). Although Anglo-Saxons did not classified their poetry into certain genres The Wanderer can be seen as an elegy. Since formal patterns like rhyme scheme or metre are difficult to analyse in the different translations the main formal question is the genre. Typically for the Anglo-Saxon period is the unknown author and origin as well as the missing title which was added later. There are one or two alliterating letters in the first half line preceding the medial caesura these also alliterate with the first stressed syllable in the second half line.” (Encyclopaedia Britannica) Depending on the translation the poem does not always include the caesura and stress pattern. The caesura in the alliterative verse cuts the lines into two half’s who mirror their two stresses: “The Germanic alliterative line consists of two hemistichs (half lines) separated by a caesura (pause). It consists of 115 alliterative verse in the Old English version, however, lines and verse pattern can differ in translation. The elegy The Wanderer is an Anglo-Saxon poem preserved in the Exeter book dating from the 10th century. Both aspects are used simultaneously to express the internal difficulty of the wanderer and in that regard also the struggle of the whole society. Not alone are present and past hard to distinguish at certain passages but also use of speakers is questionable. However, the poem depicts his problems of adopting via discontinuity in time and narrative. Fourthly, Christianity and his new gained wisdom come into focus which leads to the last question of the present state of the wanderer. Linked to that is the third part which examines the imagery of ruin and hostile nature in his exile. Secondly, the past comes into account through looking at the Anglo-Saxon warrior time and therefore exploring the depiction of the past. Therefore, the paper will look at five different aspects starting with the formal aspect and the problem of the speakers. Although he gains wisdom and faith in the end, the focus lies on the moaning for a past he has to dismiss. Coming from a warrior culture, the wanderer suffers the disappearance of his home culture which leads to his wandering between the two cultures in a nowhere land. This implies a great change for society and culture leading into trouble with identity with the people. The Wanderer is an Old English elegy which is situated in the transition period between the Anglo-Saxon society and the new emerged Christian one.
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