Journal 7: Recurring Anglo-Saxon Motifs in Literature

In Anglo-Saxon works there are recurring ideas and motifs like journey, exile, and fate. In the From a History of the English Church and People, there is an evident motif of journey.
Caedmon’s, the main character, journey was learning to sing poetry and spreading the word to the rest of the people. A visitor comes to Caedmon in a dream and teaches him to sing poetic praises to God. In this manner, Caedmon is attempting to spread the word of God’s praise through poetry. This is his journey or fate; the abbess thinks that his gift is from God. They believe that this was his reason for being on earth so they asked him to enter the monastic order. They wanted him to learn about the Bible so he could change it into song format to spread to other people. Through this Caedmon became sort of a messenger for God, but he was spreading the message that was already there.

In The Seafarer, the Anglo-Saxon motif presented Anglo-Saxon motif is journey. The speaker in this elegy is a sailor who spends most of his time on the sea. He is describing how he spent many cold winters on sea, and how he is attracted to the sea. Through the poem, he explains that he prefers to be on the rough sea than on the comfort of land. He says that the land no longer produces brave heroes so he does not want to stay there. His journeys on sea are ways for him to get away from land and people. He describes his journeys on sea, and the sea itself is a metaphor of life. He escapes to the sea to preserve life.

In The Wife’s Lament, the Anglo-Saxon idea is exile. This poem is a wife who is telling her story. It seems that when she married her husband, his family did not like her very much. There might have been opposition between the families or something, but her husband’s family did not take kindly to the marriage. She accuses her husband’s family of trying to separate her and her husband. The poem is not clear, but it seems that her husband committed a crime, and he was sent away. However she is exiled to a forest where she lives alone. This is where she is telling her story, but she ends the lament thinking that her husband feels sad just like her.