Heathen and Christian Elements in the Wanderer Essay -- Wanderer

Heathen and Christian Elements in the Wanderer The modern word weird bears lone(prenominal) a superficial resemblance to its etymological descendent, wyrd. What now stands for strange and queer only has an obsolescent connection to its classical meaning of Fate. During the process of evolution, however, the word went through many phases, especially during the formation of the English language by the Anglo-Saxons. Wyrd appears fairly practically in Old English poetry and prose, indicating a certain immensity in Germanic society. By following the changes the word undergoes, it is also thinkable to follow some of the changes that the culture undergoes as well. A fine font of Old English poetry that employs wyrd on four separate cause - with four separate meanings - is The Wanderer. What began as a word firmly grow in what can only be termed heathen culture eventidetually began to go on much more religious overtones. The word wyrd, though in the beginning pa gan in meaning, had found an entirely Christian colouring by the time of its use in The Wanderer. Before beginning an analysis of a hit word that appears four times in this poem, it is important to do a few assumptions about the nature of the piece itself. Many an bind and essay stick been written about The Wanderer, trying to define its theme, genre, even its narrator. Yet the wonderfully ambiguous nature of the poem defies any single explanation, so it remains up to the critical reader to develop his take in opinion. For the purpose of this paper, it is believed that The Wanderer is, in essence, a heathen/pagan poem, grow firmly in the Germanic culture from whence it hails. H... ...y Exile of the Wanderer. Neophilologus 73 (1989) 119-129. Dunning, T.P., and A.J.Bliss, eds. The Wanderer. London Methuen & Co, 1969 Lochrie, Karma. Wyrd and the Limits of Human Understanding a Thematic Sequence in the Exeter Book. JEPG 85 (1986) 323-331 Timmer, B.J. Wyrd in Anglo-Saxon Prose and Poetry. Neophilologus 26 (1941) 213-128. Timmer, B.J. Heathen and Christian Elements in Old English Poetry. Neophilologus 29 (1944) 180-185. 1Due to the lack of punctuation in The Wanderer, it is around impossible to know who is narrating, or to whom he/she is referring to at any tending(p) time. 2The actual meaning of sundor t rune remains ambiguous. Though isolated in meditation seems the most likely, interpretations such as reading runes have been put forward.