The Exeter Book :: Old English Poetry Literature Essays

The Exeter Book The Exeter Book is the biggest existing assortment of Old English verse. The original copy was given to the library of Exeter Cathedral by its first cleric, Leofric, toward the finish of the tenth century. The book comprises of 131 material leaves which measure roughly 12.5 by 8.6 inches. The most well known works contained in the Exeter Book incorporate â€Å"The Wanderer,† â€Å"The Wife’s Lament,† â€Å"The Seafarer,† and â€Å"Wulf and Eadwacer.† notwithstanding the 31 significant sonnets, 96 puzzles are additionally remembered for the assortment. The composition was likely replicated by a solitary recorder in 975, however â€Å"The Wanderer† is however to go back to the Anglo-Saxon tribes’ change to Christianity in the 6th century. â€Å"The Wife’s Lament† may have pre-dated â€Å"The Wanderer† on the grounds that â€Å"it offers none of the regular Christian comfort for her despondency and seems to mirror a pre-transformation, agnostic mentality towards ones’ fate† (The Exeter Book). The two sonnets are significant assets in their portrayal of the statutes and jobs of people in Anglo-Saxon society. â€Å"The Wanderer† is a funeral poem, or a mourn for the dead and the wonders of the past. The storyteller of the sonnet has lost his kinfolk in fight and is meandering alone and examining the transient idea of life. Plainly the storyteller regards the comitatus, the obligation of faithfulness between a master and his warriors, as is delineated when he recalls â€Å"embracing and kissing his master ruler and laying his hands and his head on his knee† (Wanderer 101). The aloof mentality of the storyteller is intelligent of the Anglo-Saxon culture in which men should be fearless and dispassionate. Regardless of this show, the narrator’s distress is firmly passed on in the Ubi Sunt (‘Where are they?’) entry when he asks, â€Å"Where has the pony gone? Where the youthful warrior? Where is the provider of the treasure?† (Wanderer 101). The narrator’s regret additionally shows the penetrating social conviction that everything in life is fore ordained by destiny. This is seen when the storyteller imagines the apocalypse in everlasting winter when â€Å"all the earth’s realm is pitiful [and] the world underneath the skies is changed by crafted by the fates† (Wanderer 102). The sonnet closes with a solid reference to Christianity in the lines, â€Å"It will be well with him who looks for favor, comfort from the Father in paradise, where for every one of us dependability resides† (Wanderer 102).