Asher. Period 1. Team 4. Anglo-Saxon.

“The Wanderer” is an Old English poem written in the Exeter Book, an anthology of Anglo-Saxon poems dating from the late 10th century. “The Wander” depicts the solitary exile of a lonesome warrior who presents his hardships, leniency, and faith in “the creator of men,” or God. However, wyrd, or fate, turns against him as he loses his lord and kinsmen in battle and is driven into exile. As “The Wander” was one of the many poems that reflected the Germanic Wars between 113 BC and 439 AD, it simultaneously illustrated Christianity despite the polytheistic, pagan views of some Anglo-Saxons. Though the Roman and Greek pantheons were represented by a deity of a specific element or characteristic, the Anglo-Saxon gods were not. The Anglo-Saxons believed that social behavior was generally drawn from ideas of the Anglo-Saxon and Germanic culture. Christianity further expanded, eventually becoming the dominating religion by the early middle-ages; although many changed their religious views to Christianity, many still applied paganism to their daily life. The transition between the two spiritual philosophies of the eras was not only awkward, as they suddenly contradicted each other, but quite necessary as it influenced the sensibility of religion and culture and their evolution over time. “The Wanderer” seamlessly reflects the culture conflict between the Greek and Roman era and the Anglo-Saxon era because it exemplifies the theme of salvation through faith in the supreme power of God, embracing the values of Christianity beyond the previous, paradoxical pagan lifestyle adopted by Greeks.

~Chloe, Amanda, Crystal, and Isabel.