“The Wanderer”

Posted by Tom Fasano on August 18, 2009 – 1:51 pm

The Anglo Saxon poem, The Wanderer, consists principally of two different speeches, the first (lines 1-5 and 8-57) uttered by the eardstapa (land-wanderer), the second (58-110) by the philosophical person described as snotter on mode (wise spirit). The poet supplies sage advice in the epilogue (112-115). Some see the poem as having only one voice, that of the eardstapa, who speaks of his experiences and the sufferings of others and thus earns the epithet of line 111, snotter on mode. This is a perfectly good way to read the poem. But I prefer to think that the eardstapa and the snotter on mode are two different voices because the characterization is much sharper if the poem is read that way, although neither approach to the poem alters the sequence of ideas and emotions presented.

What I love most about this poem, and what it has in common with Boethius’s The Consolation of Philosophy, is its emphasis on alleviating personal sorrow by recognizing the inevitable ruin of earthly values and the great need to seek out a lasting satisfaction in another realm.

These themes are presented most artfully in the above Johnny Cash video, “The Wanderer,” with a little help from U2.


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