Hi seniors,
If anyone doesn’t have the poem I’ve attached it as a word doc here: The Seafarer
In the comments section of this post, answer the following question before midnight Sunday night. As always, use evidence from the text to support your ideas (to cite something just put the line number in parenthesis). As for length, this is a two part question that asks you to address the idea that there are actually two journeys going on here, so I’m guessing you’ll need between two to three solid paragraphs with evidence in them.
To help you answer the question, keep the context (the time and place it was written) of the poem in mind. Use the blog post/your notes from yesterday to help you with this if you’ve forgotten the specifics.
Don’t forget to leave your name on your comment.
Question:
We’ve discussed the ways in which the poem mixes elements of early (450 AD) Anglo-Saxon culture and later (post 597) Anglo-Saxon culture. Explain why the poet(s?) does this. Also, we know that the seafarer is on a literal journey, but what else might be going on figuratively speaking?
Did We Do Anything In English? 
To answer the first question, I think the poet(s) mix elements of both the 6th and 8th century because they were writing during the 8th century, but some concepts and elements of 6th century writing were still important to them so they included them in their works. In modern writing today we write in modern English, but we may add in concepts of old Shakespearean writings if our work relates to that concept the work portrays. For example there are many love novels that still make reference to Romeo and Juliet because the premise of that story is still prominent today. In the poem The Seafarer the poet(s) the first stanza shows the sailor’s struggle about how difficult life is for him, which is an element of 6th century writing, the poet(s) writes “About myself I can utter a truth-song,/ tell journeys-how I in toil days/ torment-time often endured,/ ….Pinched by the cold/ were my feet, bound by frost’s/ frozen fetters,” (1-3 and 8-10). Here the sailor is telling about how difficult it was to be out on the sea for so long. The dashes dashes between words suggests it’s 6th century writing as well.
However through the rest of the poem there are lots of mention of God, the Lord, and spiritual things. This strongly suggests it is 8th century writing because of the strongly religious factors as well as the growing complexity in the work. Lord is mention quite frequently both capitalized and not. I did a little research and though it is not 100% agreed on I came to the conclusion that Lord refers to Jesus not God and in this case that means Jesus is mention as a heroic figure. For example in the third stanza the poet(s) writes ” For there is none so proud in heart over earth,/ none so good of his gifts nor in youth so keen,/ in deeds so brave, to him lord so loyal,” (39-41). ‘Youth so keen’ shows the leadership Jesus portrayed, ‘in deeds so brave’ means he was fearless in the things he attempted. This helps to give me thee impression that this part was written during the 8th century, because Jesus doesn’t go out in a flaming ball of fury, but he does go out as a hero.
To address the second question about the multiple journey’s going on at once, I would say that the sailor’s literal journey across the sea is described in the first two stanza’s.This metaphorical journey that commences is written about from the third stanza until the end of the poem. I know this because in class you told us the first line in the third stanza “So, now, thoughts,” meant internal thinking of the sailor. And so this is where the metaphorical journey begins. On this metaphorical journey that’s happening I think the sailor is telling the reader about the troubles of the world, and how the best way to get through them is to be brave , and therefore you will be remembered because of your courage and the stories of glory people will tell about you. Overall, the poet(s) really talks about how God’s decision for you in the afterlife will be dependent upon how much work you put in in life, which is why the sailor starts the poem off with all the struggles he endures so bravely.
-Lilly Rae Johnson 🙂
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I think that the poem mixes elements of early 450 A.D. culture with post 597 A.D. culture because he wanted to convey the expansion of christianity, evolution of our language, and how our culture came to be. In “The Seafarer”, the author mostly mentions talk about god and the lord at the near end. Similar to a slow transition, the author states, “he little believes it, who owns life’s joy — stayed in towns, had few baleful journeys — proud and wine-merry, how I weary” (27-30). In these stanzas, we know that by “he”, the author is talking about people who aren’t sailors and how they live such small lives as opposed to seafarers. But what stood out about the last stanza was the mentioning of wine, as it was mainly popular in 597 A.D. In the first 30 stanzas, the author introduces that he is a viking and talks about the weather, or “viking talk”. He/she then divulges in his/her thoughts and speaks about religious type views. This marks the transition of the merging of culture between early 450 A.D. and 597 A.D.
As the author is embarking on this journey on the sea, figuratively, I think that he is also reassessing himself. This is because he is by himself, and slowly makes the poem more meaningful to him self. In the first two paragraphs, he talks about the weather and then he moves on to more internal things such as the lord. I also think that he is figuratively going to heaven as he transitions from 450 A.D. to 597A.D. In 450 A.D., there was not a wide variety of Christianity that was spread to say the least. This is why at the beginning of the poem, the author talks about his viking masculinity about enduring the weather and talking down to people who aren’t sailors. Afterwards, as the poem slowly progresses, he starts to embrace christianity and speak about old age, “Foolish he who fears not his lord: death comes to him unexpected.Blessed he who lives humbly: favor to him comes from heaven…where life is long in love of God, hope in the heavens”((108-109). The author eventually talks about his/her’s faithfulness to god, thus setting sail to heaven, the kingdom of god.
-Johnny Bui
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I think that the poet(s) does this because he/she is in a time where the characteristics of the two time periods are mixed between two groups of people. They are used to show different perspectives of life and how things are progressing and changing. For lines that show 450 AD writing quality, I can tell that it this is for people who came from a more harsh background. The writer is using words like bitter and exile. During this time, violence was a common theme. This is to represent the seafarer’s life. For lines that show 597 AD writing quality, I can tell that this is for people who had the easier end of the stick. Though there is not much of a change, the people have a more solid base. In the case of this poem, these are the land dwellers. They do not have to endure the hard life at sea. They, “stayed in towns, had few baleful (threatening/harmful) journeys – proud and wine-merry…” (28-29). Life was more bearable for them as they did not have to take difficult journey’s and got to drink wine.
I think that figuratively speaking, this is comparing a life between the rich and the poor. In the man’s journey, he has to go through many hardships while those on land are living a much simpler life. The poor has to struggle much more than the rich because they do not have as much given to them. The poor represents the seafarers and the rich are those on land. I think it is comparing two different journey’s to try and get to the same place in the end, which I interpreted as Heaven. This is due to the fact that many of the things during these times were based off of the Lord and religion.One example from the text that shows this is, “That one does not know, man blessed with comfort, what some endure…” (55-56). The seafarer is taking the journey to find a way to fund glory and bring himself respect/honor. “The one that does not know” are the people who are on land. They do not know what others have to endure.
– Jennifer Vo
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Karen Ozuna
Poets used to mix the early Anglo-Saxon culture with the later Anglo-Saxon to exemplify the similarities and differences given from both times. In 450 AD they spoke old English which looked and sounded like German. Contrasting 597 AD which is when Christianity officially influenced the people of England and mixed in with the Pagan culture. The language became old English mixed with a sprinkle of Latin. Lines 27-30 indirectly capture a moment of 597 AD, especially when it mentions the wine, and they have to abide. Abide, in this context, I grasped it as having to start following the laws of Christianity; changing their whole lifestyle into a version of what they thought a good Christian would be and start evolving as time goes on. And a way to introduce both ways of life to people, the time periods mixing, is through poetry coming from those who’ve experienced it.
Poetry back then was made to talk about their life in a positive way. In a literal way, we do know this was a real journey. Figuratively this could be a journey of adjustment. Adjusting to the new environment, new way of seeing people and the way everything is seen. A line 88-90 explains to me what I am trying to portray in this paragraph. “Glory is humbled, honor of earth grows old and withers,” withers meaning against as every man is now against himself; such thing like survival of the fittest. Figuratively, this is an adjustment to a different time, mixed with an older one to show the things that could either build them or break them. And with the belief in God, everything should open up and hope is there. Hope was brought to them and they have no intention of letting it get away.
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I think the author included both 450 A.D and 597 A.D to show how the sea bearer was stuck in 450 A.D while everyone else has moved on to 597 A.D because he is on the exile tracks, all alone. He reminisces back in his happy times saying “At times the Swan’s song served me for merriment, garnets crying and curlew’s sound instead of men’s laughter, mew’s singing in place of mead-drink” (lines 19-22), so this is the example he lived in 450 A.D because he drank mead. Now here’s an example when he talks about the people living on land, “Indeed, he little believes it, who owns life’s joy– stayed in towns, had few baleful journeys–proud and wine-merry” (lines 27-29). The poet brings in 597 A.D now with the use of “wine-merry” and since he’s talking about people on land the sea bearer uses almost a jealousy tone of voice saying how easy and enjoy full there life is while he is “bereaved both of friend and kin, behung with rime crystals” (line 16-17). Also in the third stanza when the poet starts telling of religion, the sea bearer is not talking about himself but the people on land. “to him lord so loyal , that ever no sorrow he has of seafaring, of what the Lord – God’s will – brings him to” (lines 41-43) in this line the sea bearer is talking about how “him” and “he” are the people on land who are sheltered by God, so when the poet is talking of religion he is talking about 597 A.D. This brings me believe even more that only when the sea bearer talks about himself he talks about 450 A.D and when he talks about the people on land he talks about 597 A.D because the people on land has advanced while he is stuck in time on exile.
The sea bearer is on a journey but figuratively speaking I think he also might mean that he is in solitude (like jail). He brings up exile a few times which is a hint to me that he must have comitted a crime or is wrongfully accused to be sent away all alone. I think he talks about things that he could have had but can not anymore like “that children of men after may praise him” (line 77), he can’t have his children with him because he has to live a life of sorrow and solitude not because he wants too though. I think he also considers himself not really on the earth anymore but just something rotting away, ” Days have departed, all pride of earth’s kingdom; now are no kings and no kaisers nor any gold – givers such as once were” (line 80-83). These lines tell me that he has been alone for a while and that once ago in his life the had the possession of all those; kings, gold and pride but now he has nothing.
-Tina Vo
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I think that the author is trying to merge aspects of what the periods of history transcend in the Middle Ages, following the fall of the Roman Empire. It’s as if the narrator is dispelling the common stereotypes that Vikings were stamped with by the Europeans who viewed them as these bloodthirsty barbarians who plundered lands just for adventure. What might be happening is that the seafarer is about to die on the ship and he is having these visions that seem to go back in time when the Viking culture was different before they adopted Christianity, which was probably the reason why they were portrayed as barbarians. He also might be praying to God in order to have his life spared from the freezing cold and to continue his journey so that he could finish it.
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Poets mixes time periods because to compare two sides of the same journey. For example in The Seafarer used the violence and careless acts of 450 AD. However the God loving ways and grace from Christianity that developed in 597 AD was also used. What I think could also being going is this journey being told as both a dream and a nightmare. I also think that journey is being told from a distant memory because this journey is not talked about in the moment or present time.
– Jyselle Cruz
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The purpose behind mixing the 6th and 8th generation is to give tribute; i believe that “The Seafarer was indeed written in the 8th generation but the poet(s) did not want to forget all about the older 6th generation because some of it had some great things. This is an example that we see today, almost all modern writing relates or incorporates older writing and stories in their litterateur. It gives it a history and in my honest opinion its a way of creative writing and type of art. I believe the poet(S) did the mixing to compare the difference in writing styles. To show us how moderate we adapted to be and how we evolve throughout time. It is appreciative that the poet(s) accomplish such litterateur, as a reader it seems like one is going through time.
In the beginning of the poem it explains the journey of a sailor and the obstacles he needs to face, such as crucial weathers. This guy did not have it easy, the whole first stanza was the condition he faced. “Pinched by the cold were my feet, bound by frost’s frozen fetters.” This is 6th century writing, were in that time it really focused on story tellers and their journeys, that show the factors they face and how a person shows heroism. The poem goes on the be 450 AD writing until the lower middle of the 5th stanza. In the beginning of line (72). From 72 and forward is 597 AD, because it started to mix in Christianity into the culture and writing. It also goes on talking about the glory of god and heaven. If you read line 75 until the end of the stanza it starts getting obvious; “…good actions on earth against malice of friends, brace deeds against devils, that children of men after may praise him, and his glory hereafter live among angels always and for ever, eternal life’s splendor, joy among noble ones.” This basically says to be nice and be well on earth then you will be in heaven to have eternal life among angels.
The answer your other question; Yes, there is more than his literal journey. The ship is not the only journey the sailor is faced with he has a journey with in his own mind. In the first two stanzas, it is the literal journey, but when the 3rd stanza begins with “So, now, thoughts..” that is the sailor in his own mind. And from there he explains that one should be loyal and the best way to face problems is to be brave and loyal to god. He is basically telling himself this to help him get through and finish his journey. He is hyping himself up throughout his journey of his mind.
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I think that the author mixes both 450 A.D and 570 A.D to show the change in culture during that time period and it’s old influences in lifestyle and literature to its current time period written. It shows how people’s perspectives change and mesh through out time because 450 A.D isn’t completely lost but rather influencing the Christian ideals by reaching a legacy by doing good heroic deeds not just to continue on in your after life but to continue in heaven by God’s validation. Good deeds might not always mean being a completely outright a fabled hero but being a good person in God’s name. Also through out time and even today we live with our past influences not completely cut them off but it makes what our life is today. For example you can say that our clothing that is considered more trendy if it is very “vintage” because of our style influences from the 90’s and 80’s. Or in liturature we draw influences from works that framed the history of the art of writing such as Greek mythology and Shakespeare.
I think that figuratively speaking this poem is about the “man who lives on land” to take life for granted because those who live their lives “on sea” struggle in life for God. He describes the “men on land” to be those who will never understand hardships because of the constant mention of the words “exile” and he compares his life by using the word “destitute” meaning having no enjoyment, living a life of struggle. The author describes the “man who lives on land” as “That one does not know, man blessed with comfort, what some endure who widest must lay the track of exile.” (Line 55-57) as one who lives such a great life but will never understand what it’s like to be him and to live a life sad and alone. But what makes this struggle worth it and better than the “man on land” who lives without glory is how he strives to make his print on this earth and become a great person for God. “Blessed he who lives humbly: favor comes from heaven.” (line 108-109) meaning that living more modestly like the man on the sea is better because of God unlike living a carefree life than those who do not value God.
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During 450 A.D, the vikings started to spread their culture and believed after a person’s death, they’re either viewed to be well known or forgotten. Then shift to 597 A.D they inherited it to heroism which altered their beliefs in Christianity and spread to other places in Europe. They were changing prior to their beliefs and settling their culture in Europe. They viewed God as a powerful leader in order to have Christianity spread to other places and make their views in heroism powerful as a figure of God. They describe it like an adventure.
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when you look at the writing styles of the 6th century and the 8th century the semi difference between them is the affect christianity or religion has on the form of writing. the poet(s) start with the 6th century writing talking more about themselves and the physical journey and struggles in which he has embarked. as you progress through the writing you start to see the shift in writing style. the 8th century has more of a religious influence its kind of like a priest giving a sermon if you read it carefully. in the lines 1-10 he uses the 6th century writing style to explain his hardship and his struggles its about him nothing to do with God or jesus theres no religious connection. when the poet(s) mentions “so,now,thoughts” he switches gears into the 8th century style because it goes from being personal experience to things he is thinking about viewing things not from a carnal perspective but a spiritual one as he starts to sort of preach about the after life and how its affected by your present day actions. when he says “deep: hotter to me are delights of the lord than this dead life” he starts to preach his belief that the life of ” the lord” or jesus is better than the life he is going through because its dead and meaningless. the farther in the poem you go the deeper into 8th century writing it goes the words god and lord and spirit show up more often suggesting a religious influence.
The seafarer is yes going through a physical journey but he is also going through a spiritual journey. The first few stanzas talk about what he is going through the physical part of his journey. the further you go into the poem it talks about the after life and god and how whatever you do affects the outcome of your life after death. this tells me he is thinking about all the things he is going through physically and seeing how what he is doing benefits spiritual life and how its helping him accomplish what god wants him to. he is thinking about all the religious guidelines and teachings he knows and is analyzing himself in the spiritual sense through out most of the poem to see if he is really living what he knows and to be sure that if he dies he may have the life after death that he has fixed his spiritual and physical life for.
– Juan Rivera
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In The Seafarer, the poet mixes elements of early 450A.D Anglo-Saxon culture and later pos597A.D Anglo-Saxon culture is because he is trying to demonstrate the change between the two time periods, and how society developed in many different ways such as language and religion. How society came to be religious more to god/Christianity, than just Pagan/Norse and also how the language maintained the same(Old English), but has been changed a bit with some Latin since new invaders came and brought their culture and religion. This showed how the peoples perspective changed from 450A.D to 597A.D, but it is not completely gone since he comes back and forth between time periods, demonstrating the 450A.D is not completely gone. In line 80 and so forth, he introduces the lifestyle of Christianity and how you should portray towards the lord and how your lifestyle has to be in order for you to go to heaven.
What might be going on figuratively speaking in this poem is about a man who is working hard in life pursuing gods path, isolating himself from the sinners who only care about gold. I say this because in lines 97 to 100 states, “Though golden he strews the graves of his brothers,buries by dead men manifold treasures,that deed will not go with him: gold is no aid to a soul full of sins.” This is demonstrating no matter how much gold you have and want to take with you to the after life it won’t work. This is because a sinful man can’t take his gold with him since he didn’t follow gods expectations of a sin less man. At the end of the day, gold meant nothing. He also stated “Foolish he who fears not his Lord: death comes to him unexpected. Blessed he who lives humbly: favor to him comes from heaven,”(106-107). This demonstrates how a man should fear god because he is the one that created the whole world and where he stands. That a man should think about being focus on heaven, being humble and working hard to get to the eternal life, where joy and peace awaits him.
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The poet mixes elements of early(450 AD) Anglo-Saxon culture and later (post 597) Anglo-Saxon culture because of the incorporation of christianity. In the early Anglo-Saxon culture, the amount of christianity incorporated was minimal. Literature was mainly written in old english which is a form of German but eventually around 597 AD latin was mixed in. The poet mentions God a number of times and refers to the afterlife as a sacred. “Foolish he who fears not his Lord: death comes to him unexpected. Blessed he who lives humbly: favor to him comes from heaven.” (106-108) The poet is showing the reader that is important to obey God and fear him. Those who do not fear the Lord in this case Jesus is foolish as death awaits them. Those who live humbly will go to heaven. The poet mixes the two time periods because it creates a new style of writing that is used today, we mix elements of early literature into today’s modern literature. One cannot simply leave something they once knew behind so it is best to mix them.
The Seafarer is not only about a journey in the harsh cold winter but is also about living to serve a purpose and with a name. The poem might be about traveling in the middle of the ocean through the winter but the reason to do so is to have people remember the seafarer after death. In line 100, the poet says “gold is no aid to a soul full of sins” meaning possessions cannot be taken when dead and it will not define you when you die. If you are full of sins, after your death, the sins are still there. It is crucial to be good to God, living humbly, to earn the ticket to heaven. Figuratively speaking, people must be brave and do things to make a difference that will make them remembered after they die.
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For the poet to have themes both in 450 A.D. and 597 A.D. it allows them to not only add more style into their writing but let the audience experience two separate ideals. And what I mean by ideals is how 450 A.D. focused on the story told after one’s life and the accomplishments they have done where as 597 A.D focused more in the direction of Heaven and an afterlife. The poet captures the attention of the reader with this exciting heroic like tone “care-wretched, ice-cold sea – dwelt on in winter along the exile-tracks bereaved both of friend and of kin, behung with rime crystals. Hail showers flew.” (Lines 14-17) where later on it reads “in deeds so brave, to him lord so loyal, – that ever no sorrow he has of seafaring, of what the Lord – God’s Will – bring him to.” (Line 41-43). It is wonderfully written together and displays how well these two different themes could go well together.
It is not until near the end of the poem where I got an idea of possible figurative things that could be going on. And where the poet wrote “Foolish he who fears not his Lord: death comes to him – unexpected. – Blessed he who lives humbly: favor to him comes from heaven.” (Lines 106-108) this is a test for the seafarer. It is a physical and mental challenge for this sailor who is going through these obstacles. Where if the seafarer acts right favors come, acts wrong then death will come.
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I think that there are two possible reasons the author writes as if he’s mixing cultures from 450 AD and 597 AD. The first reason would be is that he is writing this as the two cultures are mixing. So somethings from the other culture haven’t completely transferred over into to his life, especially since he lives on the sea, he is only exposed to it in little amounts at a time. The second reason could be that he is writing off of memory and has already adapted to to culture from 597 but he’s trying to write as he would from times around the 450’s so it seems as if the cultures are mixing.
I think that figuratively speaking he his trying to telling the people on land that sometimes life is short and sometimes life is long but you never know which one you’ll have, so live life to the fullest even though, it may be hard, because after he talks about the 3 ways of dying he talks about glory and heaven throughout the rest of the poem. He also talks about how man that are “Foolish he who fears not his Lord: death comes to him unexpected. Blessed he who lives humbly: favor to him comes from heaven”(106-107) which is a way of saying what way man live there life versus the way man should live there life.
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i believe the poet is showing elements of 450 AD and 597 AD to show the mixing of the cultures. Language and religion mainly, it affected the old English overall, but afterwards it was still the same, it just laid a foundation for language and even some of our practices today. in the 6th century it seems to be all about him,not much connection to religion. but you can see that they really viewed god as some sort of powerful warrior, very different from before and after. 450 AD is basically influencing 597 AD. i think if i had to put a time frame for when this was written, 8th century, and the poet is giving a sort of “tribute” to the 6th.
i think the two separate journeys going on here are more of a spiritual one and a physical one, being a sailor isnt easy, but their is a stinging pride that comes along with it, while the people on land lead easy livesbut for what? there is no glory in that, and glory is the whole point of this culture.
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Adanicole Rivera
In the mixes of both poems which have different time periods of Anglo-Saxon. Saxon. They both carry similar Languages, and religion only thing different is 579 A.D has some latin in their language and some Christian mixing in with the pagan culture that they both have. I think the reason why the poet(s) do this is because they both have similar traits. The only thing that different between them is 597 A.D. is when christianity comes in and the viking start to take some of the influences and changes them to being what I call “Christian Vikings”. I also think why the poet(s) combined these to time periods because they go so well and most things were similar, yeah sure things changed but its not that big of a jump like if it was somebody from this time period trying to add something to this poem which would through people way off. Not say that you can’t notice the different time periods like line 121-123 has the mixure of both I notice but I still think its talking about 450 A.D where only the “glorioously one may achieve immortality”.
I think the figurative journey in this peom is that there going through this “ice-cold sea” journey and are scared of the not knowing what will come in the after life and not knowing if they will be inmortal by there legend to keep living on. I also think there journey of sins and not knowing if they will enter the kingdom of our lord or deal with the raft of the flames of hell. In lines 62-71 they talk about the eternal life of them dying as legends and entering the kingdom of these inmortal legends or being stuck in the raft of not being inmortal and dying without being known.
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The poem mixes elements of early (450 AD) Anglo-Saxon culture and later (post 597) Anglo-Saxon culture with the addition or change of culture. In this piece i see a theme of heroism which is in both periods of time (450AD) where Christianity is newly incorporated (post 597). I belive the author did this to show the change between two time periods, keeping the concepts he felt were important, and adding to that piece to make it better which is christianity x Heroism. It shows how language and religion come to play in part of life for a deeper meaning and understanding. At the start of the third stanza the Poet says ” So, now, thoughts” which shows conversion / Merging of Christianity with the pre-heroism ideas from 450AD to post 597AD. From literal meaning to theoretical afterlife. Then after god and religion is brought up more frequently which brings up a figurative journey.
Figuratively speaking I see a message the poet is giving is challenge. that life might be easy and good on land but a challenge makes life harder and more well worth it creating a better character. i see this because he compares himself to city men and how the waves at sea is a rough adventure. Poet says ” Let us Consider Where our true home is” as in think twice about your position in life and if your satisfied with where you are. and if your not find your true home and place. challenge yourself, take and adventure, surf the “waves”.
– Steven Nguyen
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The poem combines elements from the cultures of two completely different time periods. these being 450 A.D. and 597 A.D. these two cultures though did not hold on to christian beliefs but rather heroism. i believe that this was to make the distinction between the two as in the poem it states “always one of three things brings into doubt every affair before its due time: illness or old age or else edge-hate.”(unknown lines 68-70) while right after these lines only about a word later the poem switches to more religious views. “therefore praise of the living, of those speaking after, is for each noble one best of words left behind that he so work, before he must away, good actions on earth against malice of fiends.”(unknown lines 72-75) i believe that this distinction was made to show just how different the social systems and religious views were to one another. showing the difference in how the poems are written also show the difference in the authors that took part in this writing, their views, their belief and their lives.
seeing as how these poets are from different time periods, i believe that its a way of distinction, to show their time difference compared to the other poets. although long gone, its more for future poets to see and learn from, to question and ponder the days of old and know the differences of then and now. also in more figurative terms, i believe that this journey is none other than life it self, it speaks of the hardships in the different times, about how illness and pain cause death but as does edge-hate. it speaks of the loneliness of being on ones journey and the struggle of going through it day by day. “days have departed, all pride of earth’s kingdom; now are no kings and no kaisers”(unknown lines 80-83). this poem really does show the difference that time can make on a people, from the beliefs to as far as how daily life goes.
-elias benitez
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I think that the poet(s) mixes elements of early (450 AD) Anglo-Saxon culture and later (post 597) Anglo-Saxon culture to display the stubbornness of the Seafarers (450 AD) and how they weren’t able to adjust to the present (597 AD). In our present time we have this wonderful thing called technology I am able to turn on my smart phone and go to my contacts to save a number but my grandparents would rather take a pen and paper to write it down. This is because we brought up in different settings. An example from stanza 2 says “That man knows not….. I heard nothing there but the sea’s surrounding, ice-cold wave.” Just like my grandparents the Seafarers weren’t able to adjust to present and didn’t understand the Anglo-Saxons (597 AD) way of living due to two different time periods. The Seafarers were sailing/living at sea while the present Anglo-Saxon culture (597 AD) was living on a island.
Figuratively speaking this poem is about comparing life between the past and the present. Life is much more different in two time settings. But as time progresses, life becomes a bit easier than the past due to the advances new generations have.
-Jerry Nguyen
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