The Seafarer?

Question

What is the Anglo-Saxon poem, the Seafarer, really about?

Answer 1

The Seafarer" is a lyric poem. A lyric poem is one that describes feelings, emotions.

The persona (or speaker) of the poem is a sailor who describes the challenges ("sorrow, fear, and pain") of life at sea. An older man (he met these challenges "in a hindered ships,/ in a thousand ports") he goes on to describes specific examples, specific moments, of those challenges. For example, he talks about sweating "the cold/ of an anxious watch." As he's "standing guard" on the ship at night, he breaks into a sweat--not because of the temperature (it's cold) but because of fear.

The situation is cruel; so is nature. The cold puts "icy bands" around his feet and he is bound with "frozen chains." The diction (or word choice) creates the impression that he sees himself as a prisoner in a world in which he has no control. This illustrates the fatalism of the Anglo-Saxons.

The persona then goes on to describe the difference between sailors like him and the people who live on land. While the sailors constantly face "sorrow, fear, and pain," and danger, the land dwellers are described as living in pleasure with the comfort of company--the laughter of men. He describes himself sadly as a "soul left drowning in desolation."

But life at sea does have its benefits. Even while the "snow from the north" chills and threatens him, "The time for journeys would come and my soul/ Called me eagerly out, sent me over/ The horizon, seeking foreigners' homes." Now he focuses on other challenges, positive challenges: to experience life fully and gather new experience (to go "over the horizon"). It is no idle curiosity that makes the Seafarer venture out; he explains that life at sea is life-giving; the adventure makes his heart "begin to beat."

The speaker then makes a transition from the Seafarer's life to life in general. Experience has taught the man that "life itself/ Fades quickly from the earth" and that all things are temporary. This is the theme of transience (the passage of time). Wealth is temporary, "kingdoms of earth [which] flourished in glory" are gone. At the point in the poem it's clear that the sailor doesn't feel at home on either the land or the sea. Where is home then?

At the end of the poem, the Seafarer talks of turning "to where our home is," rising "to that eternal joy," winning "a life born in the love of God." It is in heaven that we will find things "eternal" and "unchanging."

It's clear the the Christian missionary who preserved this poem was attracted to its theme of transience and its tone of suffering, and used it to teach the Christian lessons of eternity and mercy.