|
|
|
|
An ambiguous attitude to exile expressed in The Seafarer
A look at this Anglo-Saxon, Old English text.
The Seafarer survives in the Exeter book in folios 81b-83a. It is complete and undamaged, enabling us to study it in its entirety. We can assign this transcription to the period 970-990ad due to the work of R. Fowler, but the date of the original version is a subject of extreme debate and no conclusive findings have been observed. By most critics it is classified as elegiac, along with The Wife’s Lament, Deor, Widsith, The Ruin and significantly The Wanderer, along with others. It is important to note here that this is not a universal view however. Liljegren classifies The Wife’s Lament, The Wanderer and The Seafarer as ‘Exile Poems’ and Timmer classifies The Wanderer and The Seafarer as ‘religious-didactic lyrics.’ The similarities between the Seafarer and The Wanderer is recognised by all however and cannot be ignored. Many critics contend that these two pieces come from a common source, and some assert that they may even have the same author. This is largely due to the contents of both on the theme of exile. The parallels between the two pieces is so strong that in The Wanderer, the narrator often tells us that he is or was at sea; lines 3-4
‘geond lagulade longe sceolde hreran mid hondum hrimcealde sæ, (through the water path a long he has been obliged to stir with his hands the frost cold sea) and at line 24 ‘wod wintercearig ofer waþema gebind,’ ‘proceed winter-grieving over the waves’ binding’ and again at lines 46-47 and 56-57. Even the basic structure of each piece is similar in that they both appear to contain two separate and distinct parts; the first being the description of an exile and their experience, the second being a Christian reconciliation of that experience. The two parts can also be separated as past and present, and, loss and consolation. Debate is abound as to whether the two parts of The Seafarer are from one, two or even more authors but it is now commonly regarded as a unified whole. As the extant text is clearly intended to be a single piece, I shall treat it as such in my examination of it. Exile is one of the enduring punishments popular in Anglo-Saxon England and is also present in many texts. The word ‘wræccan’ usually translated as ‘wretch/outcast/exile’ appears in many extant writings including; Genesis (2480 & 2823), widsith (129), Beowulf (2613) and The Meters of Boethius 10 (38), and ‘wræclastas’ usually translated as ‘path of exile’ is used in Beowulf (1354), Christ and Satan (120) and The Wanderer (5 and 32). We can see, by examining other texts what the common thoughts on exile were. Of course, one of the most (in)famous exiles in Old English writings is Satan. Satan tells us that he must ‘wadan wræclastas’ ‘travel the path of the exile’ in Christ and Satan line 120 and his banishment from Heaven is described in lines 299-319 of ‘Genesis B’. In Beowulf line 1354, it is Grendel who is described as the exile. The other exiles of biblical antiquity are, of course, Adam and Eve. The Anglo Saxon audience would have had instant recognition of these facts, as well as the cultural perception of exile. Morgan suggests ‘the traditional Anglo-Saxon horror of exile is present in the poem: the very equation of solitary wandering to anguish indicates that the values of a shame culture are in operation.’ It would also have been recognised that Adam and Eve’s descendants also have to fulfil this exile until Judgement Day. The exile of the piece need not, therefore, be a fugitive of society but rather an exile from God as we all are. The association between mankind’s exile with Adam has received widespread support for examining The Seafarer, and would certainly account for the ambiguous attitudes to exile that it contains. Smithers tells us that the relationship between Adam and Mankind as ‘both exile and…’peregrinato’ are used in ecclesiastical tradition as metaphors…applied to Adam…and hence to his descendants.’ The attitude to exile in this metaphorical sense would always be ambiguous. On the one hand, to be exiled from God is obviously to be at a sense of loss, but on the other hand, it gives us the ability to reconnect with God and await our Judgement. This association with Adam lends itself to Mankind’s enforced exile by God and the common metaphor for our journey upon the seas of life. This metaphor would seem more likely than the souls travelling upon the sea of death which is also commonly used and is evident from Anglo-Saxon burial practices (see Beowulf lines 26-52). The ‘Sea of Life’ metaphor would have been easily recognised from such places as Matthew 4:19 ; ‘et ait illis venite post me et faciam vos fieri piscatores hominum’ – ‘And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ and in Christ 1(or A); ‘sundbuend’ ‘sea-dwellers/mankind’. The sea is used as metaphor for life specifically after the fall of Adam as its unpredictable nature was a good way of describing the trials of Satan against humanity. When we consider ‘Оλίγον бιά ξύλον Αιδ′ έρύκЄι’ ‘He keeps Hades at bay with a thin piece of wood.’ in conjunction with the Anglo-Saxon ‘on flod feran’ ‘go upon the sea’ ‘when Adam considers the consequences of his actions’ The Sea was obviously seen as the domain of Satan and the ship was the protection of Christ. Thus the fall of Mankind through Adam and the penitence would not be seen as a great thing and the lot of the traveller would be one of great loss, but the promise of salvation and a return to the loving presence of God would be something worth any hardship. The most literal translation of The Seafarer would also have this ambiguity if the narrator is a peregrinato in exact terms. The peregrinato was a self imposed exile or pilgrimage. It would therefore be necessary for the exile to suffer anguish upon his voyage, or the self-imposed punishment would be pointless. IT is just this sort of penance that that Colin A. Ireland discusses in ‘Some Analogues of the O.E. Seafarer From Hiberno-Latin Sources’. Ireland compares this piece to the Life of St. Patrick, written around 680ad. In this story, the character Macc Cuill offers himself in penance to St. Patrick who orders him to ‘enter a small boat without oar or rudder and cast himself adrift…his judgement would be left to God.’ There is strong evidence in Ireland’s argument that this text, and others like it, must have been known by the Englishmen and because Macc Cuill asked for the judgement, Ireland contests that this is a self imposed exile. The attitudes to exile would then be both mourned because of physical loss (loved ones, personal comforts etc) and revered because of spiritual gain. Indeed, according to Muirchú, from who Ireland is quoting, Macc Cuill himself eventually attained the rank of bishop. For this argument there is little textual analysis required to understand the differing views on the ‘wræccan’. Personally, though this has found great favour with many critics of the text, I find it difficult to reconcile the overwhelming feeling of loss in the early part of the poem with a voluntary exile. Phrases such as ‘earmcearig’ full of sorrows’ and ‘bitre breostceare’ ‘bitter anxiety’ do not seem to be the emotions of one who has chosen this particular path, especially when we consider the positive ending to the poem. There is another textual problem to this interpretation, and that is the use of the term ‘wræccan’. The exile would have to be voluntary in this line of argument, but as Denny Neville points out, ‘wræccan’ is related to the verb ‘wrecan’ ‘to avenge/punish’, and therefore ‘the common translation of “exile” is imperfect.’ The kind of eviction described cannot be ‘voluntary’ For these reasons, I reject this argument. The association of a more general exile of all of mankind as the descendants of Adam, as in the previous argument, would seem to have a little more mileage, and would, of course, account for this feeling of loss. To be cast from the Garden of Eden is something for all of mankind to bemoan. The peregrinus of the piece is therefore using the metaphor of seafaring as allegory for the journey through life. Both parts of the poem would therefore be compliant given the Christian search to return to paradise through toil and hardship, following the teachings of Christ. Again though, the text does not seem to lend itself entirely to this interpretation. ‘winemægum bidroren’ ‘bereft of dear kinsmen’ does not seem to fit here, as all of mankind are exiled together. The arguments described, though explaining the ambiguous expression of exile, do not seem to be a realistic interpretation of the piece without ignoring specific details. As I. L. Gordon has noted, the ‘theory that the seafarer represents a peregrinus is attractive…but it does not answer all the problems the poem presents…it raises its own problems.’ However, the two approaches when considered together could offer us a feasible explanation. Looking at the poet’s condemnation of society as a whole; ‘wuniað þa wacran’ ‘remain the weak ones’ could be the poet telling us that Christianity is lapsing among the people. Few true Christians remain, which is why the narrator has no ‘kinsmen’ and is alone. Therefore, the poet is travelling on the Sea of Life, with no-one to comfort him, miserable in his loneliness, exiled from God and his companions, knowing that the fate of his companions is not to be saved from sin and enter the Kingdom of Heaven. This would be good reason indeed to offer us the stark and despairing words of the first half of the piece, while the reconciliation of the second part would also seem to fit well. The poets own soul will be saved and as he journeys, he can preach to others how they may also seek salvation. However, though this does work, it does seem rather complex. Presumably the narrator could have sought likeminded people at a religious house and would therefore not be alone. Perhaps this the meaning of line 37; Elþeodigra eard gesece.’ ‘seek the land of foreigners.’ I would, however, like to offer one or two other explanations which to me seem rather simpler, and builds upon the works of others. I would first like to accept the argument of Neville that the wræccan is an enforced exile in a similar vein to other works cited by Ireland. A law promulgated in 697 by Adomnán of Iona. Law 46 states; ‘for digging under a church…be put in a boat of one paddle… upon the ocean to go with the wind from the land… Judgement…as God deems fit.’ This analogy of an imposed exile, I argue is the reason behind the Seafarer. To me it seems that the piece has been written as a justification of this practice. Written from the point of view of the perpetrator, it is easy to see why they would descried themselves as wræccan or wræclastas, be castigatory of society, be friendless, be at sea, bemoan their fate and would explain the ambiguous attitude, not just to exile, but also to life on land. The narrator is castigatory of others, but also describes the life on land as joyful, cities as beautiful and his kinsmen as protective and comforting. The words used here emphasise a feeling of regret that is far greater than embarking upon a pilgrimage for a higher purpose, a purpose that a self imposed peregrinus would strongly believe in. Ultimately these feelings are realised as contemptible by the exile as he realises the transitory nature of all things and discovers God. From his unenviable position he is able to contemplate these matters in a way that the soft life on land is unable to accommodate. The decisive transition from regretting exile and the loss of earthly comforts to welcoming the hardships of sea (physical or metaphorical) and the chance to follow scriptures to please God would certainly quieten many of those who may criticise this punishment as meaning almost certain and pointless death. It is the salvation of the narrator’s soul and the allegory for the rest of us that is of interest to the audience. It would seem that this piece is almost a polar opposite of The Battle of Maldon or Judith in that rather than extolling the virtues of a heroic society, the poet is very castigatory of the traditional warrior model. I would suggest that this piece is rather more in the vein of The Dream of the Rood by the way it tries to re-model heroism into a Christian ideal. Holton notes ‘there is something heroic about anyone who is bold enough to travel on the sea at all’ but the narrator also states that we should perform ‘deorum dædum deofle togeanes’ ‘brave deeds against the Devil’ line 76, compounding this shift in the ideals of heroism. Gordon notes that though the seafarer has defined seafaring as a hazardous enterprise, ‘he chooses death (dryhtnes dreamas) because nothing is to be gained by…the ‘dead’ life on land.’ The heroic model is also used in similarity to Beowulf lies 1386-9 ‘let him who can win fame for himself before he dies. That is best for a warrior after he is dead.’ The use of the heroic mode in The Seafarer gives us further explanation of his views on exile. Christians are the new heroes, and to be afraid is very un-heroic. The melancholy nature of the piece is really to be expected as the poem is drawing on old poetic traditions to express the relatively new Ideas of Christianity. We can look at Hávamál for a source to the traditions within The Seafarer. Stanza 55 states ‘A wise man’s heart is seldom glad’, Thus although the poet has found salvation, he is still bound by poetical tradition to be melancholy. So can we argue coherently for a voluntary or involuntary exile to account for the ambiguous attitude? Greenfield says we have ‘exactly the right dictional pivot for the change in figural stance from the endurance of involuntary exile in lines 1-33a to the eagerness for voluntary exile in what follows.’ To come to this conclusion he has glossed ‘sylf’ in line 35b to ‘of my own accord’ instead of ‘myself.’ Of interest also is the use of the word ‘longung’ at line 47a. Calder sees this as ‘the Old English word, meaning both “longing” and “anxiety,” thus aptly expressing the seafarer’s ambiguous emotions.’ In the Seafarer we have many possibilities to whom or what the narrator represents. I believe the text supports the fact that he was once condemned to be an exile in the vein of Macc Cuill, with all of the sense of loss that this situation would have carried. The exile had the opportunity to ponder God’s will and the transitory nature of all things, and so once re-emerged into society (again like Macc Cuill who became a bishop) also evaluates the way in which people lived. Finding the ‘dead life on land’ severely lacking, the narrator makes the choice to impose upon himself a voluntary exile. ‘Wadan wræclastas,’ to travel the same path he had gone before. We are invited to participate in the poet’s discovery of God and take on the voluntary aspect of the peregrinus and move toward God ourselves. The fact that the narrator is unnamed gives the effect of a universal experience wherein we are all exiles from paradise through the sin of Adam. The attitudes to exile expressed within the poem are not so much a problem, than to be actively expected. The poetic traditions that the author is using necessitate the gloomy aspects of the piece as well as much as the actual experience. Exile becomes less lonely as we have the company of each other, and is also something to be welcomed. Through this exile, we can contemplate God and help to bring about our salvation. Hence exile is at once to be bemoaned as a sense of loss, but also to be greeted head on and dealt with accordingly, through toil and strife, to be reunited in the kingdom of heaven, where even the Angels will sing our praises (excluding those Angels who are to remain in exile forever one presumes). Bibliography Liljegren, S. B. "Some Notes on the OE Poem The Seafarer." Studia Neophilologica 14 (1941-42): Timmer, B. J. "The Elegiac Mood in Old English Poetry." English Studies 24 (1942): pgs 33-44. G.V. Smithers, ‘The Meaning of The Seafarer and The Wanderer’, Medium Ævum, 26, 1957 Morgan, Gwendolyn. "Essential Loss: Christianity and Alienation in the Anglo-Saxon Elegies." In Geardagum: Essays on Old and Middle English Literature 11 (1990) A.D. Horgan ‘The Structure of The Seafarer’, Review of English Studies, 30, 1979 Frederick S. Holton ‘OE Sea Imagery and the Interpretation of The Seafarer’, Yearbook of English Studies, 12, 1983 Colin A. Ireland, ‘Some analogues of the OE Seafarer from Hiberno-Latin Sources’, Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, 92, 1991 Denny, Neville. "Image and Symbol in The Seafarer." Theoria, 14, 1960 I. L. Gordon, ‘Traditional Themes in The Wanderer and The Seafarer’, Review of English Studies, 5, 1954 S.B Greenfield, ‘Min, Sylf, and “Dramatic Voices” in The Wanderer and The Seafarer’, Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 68 D.G. Calder, ‘Setting the Mode in The Seafarer and The Wanderer’, Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, 72, 1971 Medieval Sourcebook: Cain Adamnain: An Old-Irish Treatise on the Law of Adamnan, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/CainAdamnain.html |
Library
~ Table of Contents ~
How are the law-codes that survive from Anglo-Saxon England useful in revealing aspects of Anglo-Saxon social values?
‘The Dream of the Rood is a poem about transformation.’ How Judith represents a reworking and a reinterpretation of its source. |
