Anglo Saxon poetry

Something I found especially interesting among all of the poems we read this week was the unmistakable thematic commonality of the inclusion of animals. However, I don't just mean there was an animal randomly appearing in each story but rather, as I read through each of the poems I would come across either actual animals representing previously discussed themes (like in The Husband's Message the gulls were circling) OR the characters themselves would be animal-ized (is that even a word?).

However, I'd like to back-up for a moment and connect this with another common theme that was heavily emphasized and agreed upon in class. It is quite obvious that each of the poems included the thematic element and setting of banishment/exile. Contextually, we know this would make sense because of how common banishment was during this time as new Lords and Kingdoms would gain power. I bring this up because I noticed that many of the characters who found themselves sorrowfully exiled or fighting their own banishment were described in relation to animals.

For instance, in The Wife's Lament the main character describes herself as being forced to live in "a forest grove, under an oak tree in an earthen cave". Usually, we think of bears or other animals living in 'earthen caves' as shelters. Using this as a description of an exiled human being's home creates a sense of difference and is used as a form of displacing the exiled (minority).

Furthermore, in Wulf and Eadwacer (Woo-lf and AID-WALKER) the men on the island are described as fierce if they are received by others who pose a threat. Upon reading this I definitely got a Lord of the Flies vibe and immediately characterized the men as savages who have resorted to their animalistic tendencies to, first and foremost, protect and defend.

One further example I found is from The Battle of Brunanburh when the warriors are described as "grizzle-haired" while fighting. This, in stark contrast with the description of the animals such as that "greedy war-hawk" and the "gray animal the wolf in the forest" who are described as enjoying the corpses after the battle has ended. I believe that, by using animalistic characteristics to describe warriors, the author of the poem is trying to emphasize the point that the intentions and tendencies of human interaction had built up (or been torn down?) to a primal level during this period of time. Furthermore, by including the actual animals and describing them completing an evolutionary and naturalistic act, I believe the author may be trying to suggest that, as complex as humans may be, in the end, we are all animals and our primal instincts will be the only thing that remain when all else is lost...

Works Cited

“The Battle of Brunanburh”. Handout. Medieval Literature. Burris Lab. 27 Aug. 2013

“The Wife’s Lament”. The Exeter Book. Eds. Krapp, George Philip and Van Kirk Dobbie, Elliot. Columbia: UP, 1936. Print.

“Wulf and Eadwacer”. The Exeter Book. Eds. Krapp, George Philip and Van Kirk Dobbie, Elliot. Columbia: UP, 1936. Print.