The Anglo-Saxon’s had an accepting view of life. They believed in fate, which decided the future of a person. The Anglo-Saxon’s felt that death was a way of life, similar to a culture and they respected that. In short poems such as “The Wanderer” and “The Seafarer”, readers immediately understand the bond the Anglo-Saxons felt with their passed family and friends. In “The Wanderer”, the narrator tells the reader to listen carefully to the Wanderer, who tells stories about the dead lords and ladies, as well as appreciating all the earthly items. In “The Seafarer”, which is similar to “The Wanderer”, a man has been living in the sea all his life, and is constantly struggling with the hard life of the sea. The seafarer understands life in the sea is a demanding, but he feels that he is obliged to sail the sea. In the end, the seafarer believes that God will save a spot for him in heaven for his devotion to sailing his entire life in the sea. This is a difference among the Anglo-Saxons and the Greeks. The Anglo-Saxons believed in one God, while the Greeks believed in multiple gods. These short poems were tributes to the lost family members and friends, as well as describing the tombs, burials, and cremations of their loved ones. Anglo-Saxon graves were filled with various items of importance to the loved one buried there, hoping that those items would go with the loved one to the after-life. One famous cemetery is Sutton Hoo, located near Woodbridge where wealthy Anglo-Saxons were buried with valuable goods. The Greeks believed that once one has passed away, they would go to one of the underworlds, depending on how they lived their life.
Steven Li, Kevyn Fox, Dan Qi, Samudra Thio
dibs
ReplyDeleteYour group did a much better job than last time on your synthesis question. Your group took two poems and did a great job of describing them, however you were supposed to talk about how these poems portrayed Anglo-Saxon culture. Another part of the question asked you to take Greek culture and compare it with the Anglo-Saxon culture. The question also asked you to compare the religious beliefs between the two societies. Your group did a great job of this, as you analyzed the differences between them, and did in depth research of the actual beliefs. If we had your synthesis question, we would have picked beowulf, a 3000 line poem with plentiful references to Anglo-Saxon culture. You also claim that the Anglo-Saxons had an accepting way of life, yet you never explicitly proved so. Overall good job, its good to see the improvement from the last post you had!
ReplyDeleteLove,
Max White, Seth Moore, James Kawakami, Adrian Little