The Seafarer
E21809
The Seafarer is an Old English elegiac poem that reflects on the hardships of life at sea and the spiritual journey of the speaker.
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Christian poem
→
Old English poem → elegy → |
| approximateCompositionDate |
10th century
→
|
| collection |
Exeter Book poems
→
|
| compositionDateRange |
9th–10th century
→
|
| containsMotif |
call to fear God
→
exile from earthly joys → sea voyage as spiritual metaphor → |
| countryOfOrigin |
England
→
|
| culturalContext |
Christianized Anglo-Saxon England
→
|
| form |
alliterative verse
→
|
| genre |
elegiac poetry
→
|
| hasInterpretation |
allegorical spiritual autobiography
→
homiletic sermon ending → literal account of seafaring life → |
| language |
Old English
→
|
| length |
about 124 lines
→
|
| literaryDevice |
allegory of spiritual voyage
→
contrast between sea and land → imagery of cold and hardship → |
| literaryPeriod |
Anglo-Saxon literature
→
|
| literaryTradition |
Old English literature
→
|
| manuscript |
Exeter Book
→
|
| manuscriptLocation |
Exeter Cathedral Library
→
|
| meter |
Old English alliterative meter
→
|
| narrativeVoice |
first-person singular
→
|
| originalScript |
Insular minuscule
→
|
| relatedWork |
The Wanderer
→
The Wife’s Lament → |
| religiousElement |
Christian moral exhortation
→
reference to God → reference to heaven → reference to judgment → |
| setting |
Anglo-Saxon world
→
the sea → |
| speaker |
an aging seafarer
→
|
| studiedIn |
Old English language courses
→
medieval literature courses → |
| theme |
Christian faith
→
exile → fate and providence → hardships of seafaring life → loneliness → renunciation of worldly pleasures → search for heavenly home → spiritual journey → transience of earthly life → |
Referenced by (2)
| Subject (surface form when different) | Predicate |
|---|---|
|
Old English
→
|
hasLiteraryWork |
|
The Wanderer
→
|
relatedWork |