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The Wanderer 18841 Views
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Description:
You'll never guess what this Old English poem is about. Wait, what? You think it's about some dude who wanders around a lot? Hey, nice guess! Have you read it before?
Transcript
- 00:01
The Wanderer, a la Shmoop. The Old English poem, The Wanderer, is basically
- 00:09
one old warrior-dude going on and on and on about his past.
- 00:14
We're not exaggerating. It's pretty much the entire time.
- 00:20
But what's the main point of all this reminiscing?
- 00:23
It's got to be a reflection on something, right? But what?
Full Transcript
- 00:29
One thing the speaker spends a lot of time reflecting on is exile.
- 00:33
He reminisces about how sweet his life used to be when his lord and relatives were alive.
- 00:39
They were warriors, and they partied like rock stars.
- 00:42
Things were great... until everybody he knew was killed in battle.
- 00:46
Now, the speaker is homeless and alone.
- 00:50
It's not a lot of fun, but his exile does give him plenty of time to reflect on the
- 00:53
meaning of life.
- 00:55
About a zillion famous poets have written in exile... Ovid, Dante, et cetera...
- 01:02
In the poetry world, it's kind of the "in" thing to do.
- 01:06
So, even though it's a bummer, it has helped a lot of people think their... deep thoughts.
- 01:13
Another thing the speaker reflects on is God.
- 01:16
For most of the poem, he expresses traditional Germanic beliefs about how a wise man should
- 01:20
act.
- 01:22
He talks about stuff like the inevitability of death and mankind's inability to change
- 01:26
his fate.
- 01:27
Yeah, he's doesn't have a particularly sunny disposition.
- 01:31
At the end of the poem, though, he changes his tune a bit and starts expressing some
- 01:35
Christian ideas.
- 01:36
The speaker says that the only possible refuge from all the misery he's seen is in God's
- 01:42
grace.
- 01:43
There's no doubt the speaker spends a lot of time reflecting on suffering. With all
- 01:47
the terrible things that have happened to him, it's probably hard not to.
- 01:51
We have to hand it to him, though. Despite the bad times he's gone through, the speaker
- 01:54
works hard to find meaning in his suffering.
- 01:56
In fact, his suffering becomes bigger than just his personal experience.
- 02:01
It becomes part of the collective struggle of all mankind.
- 02:05
Because, really, aren't we all just trying to make sense of this great big... whatever-it-is?
- 02:10
So what's the reason for the trip down memory lane?
- 02:14
A reflection on exile?
- 02:16
On God?
- 02:17
Or on suffering? Shmoop amongst yourselves.
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