23 pages 46 minutes read

Anonymous

The Wanderer

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 950

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Themes

The Unbearable Logic of Fate

The Wanderer bears the burden of immense loss, but within the pagan culture that the Wanderer embodies, that difficult reality is rendered infinitely more difficult because it cannot be explained, save through the ever-fickle workings of chance, represented within Medieval culture by the concept of the Wheel of Fortune, or Rota Fortunae. It turns and some flourish, while others perish: “All is wretched in the realm of the earth / The way of fate changes the world under heaven” (Lines 106-07). Great armies rise but then fall, leaving survivors inevitably to question why: “What happened to the horse? What happened to the warrior? What happened to the gift-giver?” (Line 92).

Within the pagan culture, the questions can only be rhetorical. Why has the Wanderer lost his homeland, comrades, and liege? The Wanderer’s lyrical lamentation is expressed by questions he understands can never be answered, save by the logic—or illogic—of fate, leaving him only a difficult life of endurance and stoic acceptance.

In this, the lament of a soldier who has lost everything expands to a wider, universal philosophical posture: Nothing is reliable, achievement is ironic, expectation is pointless, and explanation beggars logic. Sorrow, then, is the inevitable and universal outcome, leaving each person, like the Wanderer, suspended between regret and despair, tormented by memories and haunted by dreams.

Related Titles

By Anonymous

Study Guide

logo

Arden of Faversham

Anonymous

Arden of Faversham

Anonymous

Study Guide

logo

A Woman in Berlin

Anonymous

A Woman in Berlin

Anonymous

Study Guide

logo

Bible (New Testament)

Anonymous

Bible (New Testament): English Standard Version

Anonymous

Study Guide

logo

Bible: Old Testament

Anonymous

Bible: Old Testament: English Standard Version

Anonymous

Study Guide

logo

Diary of an Oxygen Thief

Anonymous

Diary of an Oxygen Thief

Anonymous

Study Guide

logo

Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep

Anonymous

Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep

Anonymous

Study Guide

logo

Homeric Hymns

Anonymous

Homeric Hymns

Anonymous

Study Guide

logo

Lazarillo De Tormes

Anonymous

Lazarillo De Tormes

Anonymous

Study Guide

logo

Nibelungenlied

Anonymous

Nibelungenlied

Anonymous

Study Guide

logo

One Thousand and One Nights

Anonymous

One Thousand and One Nights

Anonymous