Journal 7

In Anglo- Saxon poetry, Beowulf, “The Seafarer”, and “The Wife Lament”, you see the same ideas reoccurring. Death is a theme portrayed in all of the stories. “So he came to place, carrying the treasure, and found his lord bleeding profusely, his life at an end; again he began to swab his body. The beginnings of an utterance broke out from the king’s breast-cage. The old lord gazed sadly at the gold.” (Beowulf, line 796-801) “Certain which of Fate’s three threats would fall: illness, or age, or an enemy’s sword, snatching the life from his soul. The praise the living pour on the dead Flowers from reputation: plant an earthly life of profit reaped even from the hatred and rancor, of bravery flung in the devil’s face, and death can only bring you praise and a song to celebrate a place with the angels, life eternally blessed in the hosts of Heaven.” (Seafarer, line 69-79) “So in this forest grove they made me dwell, under the oak-tree, in this earthly barrow. Old is this earth-cave, all I do is yearn the dales are dark with high hills up above, sharp hedge surrounds it, overgrown with briars, and joyless is the place. Full often here the absence of my lord comes sharply to me.” (The Wife’s Lament, lines 28- 34) As you can see death is a big theme within Anglo- Saxon poetry. Each poem has someone dying it, whether they die before the ending or they are about to die, death is still written about.