The Wanderer: A struggle with Faith

1111 Words3 Pages

The Wanderer: A struggle with Faith

In the Anglo-Saxon poem, The Wanderer, the narrator describes a man

who is having a religious struggle between his old pagan traditions

and the new Christian Philosophy. Anglo-Saxons believed in fate, fame,

and treasure; and that one could not easily change his life. The

Christian Religion believed of an afterlife in Heaven or Hell, and

where one would go depended on their actions during their human life.

Since Christians did believe in an afterlife, they did not believe in

pagan philosophy; instead they believed God was in control of

everything, and things in their life happened for a reason. Following

this concept, defeat and misfortune were easier to accept, because if

one suffered a horrible life on Earth, he would be rewarded for his

misery in the afterlife. The speaker of the poem describes a great

loss, remembering the time when he was happy with his kinsmen, “Thus

spoke such a ‘grasshopper’, old griefs in his mind, cold slaughters,

the death of dear kinsmen….None are there now among the living to who

I dare declare me thoroughly, tell my hearts thought” (6-12). The

strongest relationship during the Anglo-Saxon time was through

comitatus, and with the death of his lord and kinsmen, this was taken

away from him. Now without his support system of his comitatus the

speaker is lost, and becomes a wanderer. The horrible experience he

has had of losing his lord has shaken his traditional Anglo-Saxon

beliefs, and he looks toward Christianity for a different answer.

During the time period in which The Wanderer was written, the

Anglo-Saxons were torn between the familiar pagan beliefs they have

always followed; and the new hope that the Christian philosophy had

brough...

... middle of paper ...

... should care too fast

be out of a man’s breast before he first know the cure: a warrior

fights on bravely. Well is it for him who seeks forgiveness, the

Heavenly Father’s solace, in whom all our fastness stands” (104-108).

This line shows how the narrator still remembers God’s eternal love

for those who suffer, as well as knowing that there is a life in

heaven after his earthly life. The Wanderer reflects the traditional

Anglo-Saxon beliefs, as well as captures the speaker’s efforts to find

the answers to his deepest questions. His faith in the Anglo-Saxon

culture has been shaken, because it has not treated him well. Not only

did he lose his comitatus, but it also forced him into the outcast

existence that he must live. Even as he turns to Christianity for an

answer and direction, he cannot help looking back fondly on the

traditions that were part of him.

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