Interiority In The Middle Ages

Interiority, the reflection of one’s self internally is a term that was often rejected by medievalists during the British Literature period. In The Middle Ages, individualism and interiority was suppressed by feudalism and caste systems. People gained status by being a part of wealthy families which was defined mostly by land. Names and family lineage were the key components of one’s fate in a hierarchal society. A sense of “self-hood” was not accepted by society during that time but that factor alone does not diminish the existence of interiority. People as it relates to society were seen not as individuals but as a body or a community. Since this was the dominant view, any objection to that view was considered void and an act of disobedience. Though the concept of interiority is not accepted by many

scholars until the Renaissance, “The Wanderer,” an Anglo-Saxon text, employs ideas of this concept. The speaker delves into his struggle of emotions and fate. Interiority in “The Wanderer” is the experience of loneliness generating spiritual awakening.
The Wanderer’s circumstance causes him to reason with emotions and thoughts since his environment has changed drastically. In the following lines, the speaker states,
Often alone, always at daybreak
I must lament my cares; not one remains alive,
to whom I could utter the thoughts in my heart,
tell him my sorrows. In truth, I know that
for any eorl an excellent virtue
is to lock tight the treasure chest
within one’s heart, howsoever he may think (“The Wanderer” lines 8 -14).
The speaker begins to form his own thoughts on how he should handle these emotions. He has lost everyone and has no one to talk to. It was easy for the speaker to conceal his feelings when he was surrounded by his lord and other warriors. Now everything that was once common to him becomes challenging. He knows it is a warrior’s virtue to guard his thoughts and keep them contained so he tries to uphold his sense of pride. He suppresses these emotions although it makes him miserable. Even though it is not directly stated in the poem, the speaker is aware of the consequences of going against what society deems as “acceptable.” It is not that interiority did not exist during these times for one can see how it surfaces in the speaker’s initial thoughts about his feelings. Self-consciousness could not be expressed as freely as it was during the Renaissance because people were not at liberty to do so. The speaker quickly changes his view towards sharing his inward feelings for that reason.
The inner turmoil of loneliness surfaces as he tries to talk himself out of expressing these emotions. As he continues to share his experience, his evaluation of life begins to unfold. He could no longer keep his thoughts locked in his mind as society had taught him. Experience opened his eyes and his heart to the real meaning of life and what lies within that life. Thoughts were even held captive and/ or conditioned by the views of society but trouble would not allow him to filter these thoughts. This experience of exile brought about a new awareness of how the cycle of life operates in the following passage,
Therefore I don’t know why my woeful heart
should not wax dark in this wide world
when I look back on the life of eorls,
how quickly they quit the mead-hall’s floor,
brave young men. So this middle-earth
from day to day dwindles and fails;
therefore no one is wise without his share of winters
in the world’s kingdom ( “The Wanderer” lines 58- 65).
The speaker now realizes his experience of loneliness has given him more than the pain of death/loss. It has taught him that everything in life must come to an end and wisdom is gained by the experiences life brings through the years. Wisdom was not lost because his lord died as he assumed earlier in the text. Rather, it was discovered through his experience of losing the one whom he was dependent upon. The speaker sees the discovery of the wise man and his characteristics as much like that of a warrior.
Since the world is a fallen place then death is inevitable.

The speaker laments over every one of life’s pleasure fading away with time. The idea of fate reappears as the reality of all great things must come to an end seeps into the speaker’s mind. The wanderer is struggling with his prior knowledge of life versus this new experience of life. It is shown when he says, “Here wealth is fleeting, here friend is fleeting, here humankind is fleeting” (“The Wanderer” lines 108-110). The speaker goes back to the view of life sucks then you die. Earth presents so many hardships the speaker infers that fate has to be the force behind it all. One would use this as a counterargument but discovering “self” and reasoning is a process. Just because the speaker straddles the fence does not prove that one lacks interiority, rather it implies that there is a constant struggle between the familiar and the unfamiliar. As life’s trials present itself for one that in not learned as it relates to faith, of course it is natural to convert back to the familiar way of thinking. This a clear depiction of feelings and how it wavers due to changes in environments and /or

circumstances.
At the end of the poem, the reader sees another shift in the wanderer’s meditation. He goes from what he has been conditioned to think to what he actually learned from this desolated place. The wanderer concludes,
So said the wise man as he sat in meditation.
a good man hold his words back, tells his woes not too soon,
baring his inner heart before knowing the best way,
an eorl who acts with courage. All shall be well for him who seeks
grace,
help from our Father in heaven where a fortress stands for us all (“The Wanderer” lines 111-115).
In the lines above, the speaker uses the wisdom he has gained from isolation/loneliness as a mean to establish his awareness of who God is. The fact that he has encountered such hardship and finds no solace in what he knew before brings him to a deeper of understanding of who holds the solution to it all. Sorrow as he sees it should be kept until one has an answer that will lighten the burden. The speaker realizes it is faith in God that keeps one grounded when trials come and in understanding this one can gain wisdom from it. The one who puts his trust in God will have the ability to withstand whatever life brings because God is the sustainer of all things.
Although some components of the poem indicate a paganist view of life, the speaker does not stray away from some of the Christians ideals. There are many elements of the poem that reflect the speaker’s spiritual awakening from his experience of loneliness. Interiority was well developed during the points where the speaker talked about the wealth of knowledge he gained from his experience. He discovered a sense of not only who God is but that wisdom stems from the experiences of life. It was the experience alone that caused the speaker to become aware of the world and its state of being. Without the influence of the pagan society, the speaker was forced to get beyond the surface way of thinking which shifted him from hoping for God’s mercy in the beginning to receiving God’s favor in the end.