Compare "The Wanderer" with “The Wife’s Lament.” Thematically, the poems are concerned with the grief and the rendering of the main speakers’ state of despair. Is there a direct relationship between the two poems or does the similarity of the vocabulary and the imagery suggest common or popular formulaic phrases used by the poets to express the cultural sensibilities? Can modern readers form any conclusions about the roles of men and women in this culture?
Choose a passage and analyze how it connects to a concept found in the poems. For instance, you may want to focus on the idea of the loss of their previous lives, Are the speakers bemoaning the loss of the material things, the loss of the relationships that shaped their identity, or the underlying concept of belonging to a community? Make sure you do not merely echo the words of the chosen passage or summarize the poems. Rely on your critical sense and responsive awareness to help you find the deeper meaning each poem possibly holds.
Write a two to three page essay, double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font. Include a title that suggests the overall topic you will be discussing. In the introductory paragraph include the title of each poem and the translator’s name. The authors are anonymous but you can mention that the works are found in the Exeter Book. Include direct quotations from both works and use line number(s) to identify the place of the citation. Do not follow the quotation by “this means” or “I think this says …” or some similar formula and then reduce your ideas or interpretation into a few words.