Ash.P3.T3

The early Anglo-Saxon culture was guided and built upon the culture that the Greeks had left behind, a polytheistic religion, and a belief similar to what the Greeks termed "Moirae", the idea that the lives of mortals were controlled by metaphorical threads from birth to death, therefore making it impossible for anyone to act outside his or her destiny - this would soon drastically change. In 596 A.D., the Pope sent a monk by the name of Augustine to preach the beliefs of Christianity, and gradually within the next hundred years the majority of the Anglo-Saxons would convert from their paganism, changing their view on idea of fate. The Anglo-Saxons settled down and became literate and cultured, as demonstrated by their numerous poems and by their burial mounds. This shift in belief could be seen in the Anglo-Saxon poem, The Seafarer, a poem of a sailor, supposedly exiled from his settlement, and travelling the seas in search of a new home. The poem begins off with the sailor talking about the harsh conditions of the sea, "of the ways [he] toiled distraught[ly]" and how he "for days on end enduring cares and bitter bale within [his] breasts" (lines 1 - 2). He goes on speaking about these conditions as if he were destined to be stuck in solitude at sea for all of his life, as if he couldn't control what was to happen. This is the Greek idea of Moirae; the sailor cannot control the sea because it is outside of his destiny, he is trashed at by the sea because it is his destiny, he was exiled because it was his destiny. The sailor then begins to change his belief halfway through; this could be seen between the lines 20 - 30, especially in lines 28 - 29, "my thought is thrown beyond my heart's cage now. My mind is cast upon the swell sea." This shows his conversion from his pagan beliefs to Christianity, which is later confirmed when he begins using the term "God" and epithets such as "Master," "Lord," and "Architect", and his change in his idea of fate and destiny, which is portrayed in lines 34 - 36, "So any noble spirit will aspire to earn an everlasting epitaph of good deeds done on earth, bold blows dealt at the Devil and against fell foe before his passing, that prosperity delights enjoyed for ever by the brave among the angels my perpetuate." Gradually, just like with most new ideas, successive generations of Anglo-Saxons accepted the idea more and more and eventually religion came out supreme over science. The Anglo-Saxons settled down and became literate and cultured, as demonstrated by their numerous poems and by their burial mounds. This idea of man's ability to determine his own destiny and over come evil was new and conflicted with the Greek's culture. The concept of moirae gave them something to blame their troubles on and an excuse for their actions, but as a result of their Christian faith, the Anglo-Saxon struck down this excuse and made people more accountable for their own lives.