During the Middle Ages, banishment was a devastating occurrence which plagued many Anglo Saxons. Upon being exiled, men were forced to travel the barren world alone in hopes of finding a new lord under whom they could serve. From this point on, melancholy and loneliness stood as the emotional basis on which every thought and dream was based. Until successfully locating a new mead hall and fellow companions, these loners were forced to look to themselves for comfort, or if they were lucky enough to realize it, the Lord. Not every exiled kinsmen was spiritual enough to grasp the realization that Christ was a stable means of service, unlike the leaders of their former kingdoms. In the elegy "The Wanderer" the exiled earth-dweller is one of the gifted who turns to the Lord for comfort in his time of need. This wanderer travels the road of loneliness and suffers his share of "winters in this world's kingdom" (Wanderer 68). After the suffering came the comfort, and the earth-dweller was able to revive his life and come to serve an everlasting kingdom from which he would never be exiled or lonely again. "The Wanderer" stands as a virtuous monument of spiritual recognition and an example of the process of healing which religious belief can accomplish.
In the original manuscript of "The Wanderer," the word "Lord" is not capitalized in the opening paragraph of the poem as it is in the Norton Anthology edition. I believe that by the editors capitalizing the word "Lord," the direct context of the poem is manipulated in a way which takes away from its intended meaning. My thesis is based on the fact that the word "Lord" in the first paragraph of the poem should have remained in lower case status.
He who is alone often lives to find favor, mildness of the lord even though he has long had to stir with his arms the frost-cold sea, troubled in heart over the water-way had to tread the tracks of exile. Fully-fixed is his fate. (Wanderer 68)In this opening paragraph of the elegy, the earth-walker is telling the audience the utmost desire of exiled men: to find a new lord under which to serve. The wanderer is saying that most kinsmen are able to withstand the torment of banishment by holding fast to the belief that it will all work out in the end. Their only hope is to eventually come to a new kingdom where they are welcomed and able to reestablish their life as a fellow man of the mead hall. The wanderer fully understands that his fate is fixed. He will travel relentlessly in search of a new people using hope as his only means of salvation.
In the second paragraph of the poem, the wanderer comes to the realization that he must not lament on the fact that he is alone. He knows that self-pitying thoughts will be of no help to him. He says, "Words of a weary heart may not withstand fate, nor those of an angry spirit bring help. Therefore men eager for fame shut sorrowful thought up fast in their heart's coffer" (Wanderer 69). This quotation demonstrates his understanding of the process of success through inner-peace and acceptance. He compares his state to that of men who desire fame and recognition. They must rely upon themselves in order to obtain and then maintain a lofty societal level. Man must acknowledge his present state of being before being able to transform it into one of a more favorable degree. The earth-dweller has accepted inner-contemplation as his means of survival. He is slowly gaining the idea that spirituality will eventually be his ultimate savior. This stands as the wanderer's first step towards the Lord. He is now only expressing himself in silent prayer because he has accepted the fact that there is no one in his world to listen. He is accepting his soul as the only inhabitant of his personal world and is turning to himself, and God (although unknowingly), for comfort.
For the wanderer, all the delights of the physical world are gone. He has no mead hall to call his own, no lord to serve, and no fellow kinsmen to protect him. His entire world has been transformed into an unknown and mysterious entity. He realizes that the only true companion to one who is exiled is cruel sorrow and he decides that he is no longer going to look to the past and feed sorrow's flame, but rather look to the future and extinguish sorrow from his mind.
He who has had long to forgo the counsel of a beloved lord knows indeed how, when sorrow and sleep together bind the poor dweller-alone, it will seem to him in his mind that he is embracing and kissing his liege lord and laying his hands and his head on his knee, as it some times was in the old days when he took part in the gift-giving. (Wanderer 69)This passage exemplifies the wanderer's complex understanding of sorrow and makes him realize that he is becoming his own victim by allowing sorrow to "bind" him alone while he sleeps. He must stop lamenting about his old lord and find a new one which will never desert him and always be there when he needs him. He will soon come to the realization that the only lord he will ever find which will welcome him with open arms is Christ.
From this point on until the end of the poem, the earth-walker is basically casting away his want of a physical world and concentrating on the establishment of a spiritual escape route from all the hurt and pain which has afflicted him. It took being exiled for him to gain the wisdom of knowing that true contentment comes from within. "...this middle-earth each day fails and falls" (Wanderer 69). He knows that he must strive to gain the acceptance of a higher being than that of the known world. "Middle-earth," or human existence continues to defeat him and he now must strive to become a part of the "high-earth," or the heavens. "No man may indeed become wise before he has had his share of wisdom in this world's kingdom" (Wanderer 69). He has finally gained an appreciation for his status. Without banishment, he would still be a captive of the "failing middle-world." He would never have had the strength or courage to overcome human existence and gain a higher recognition than that which was obtainable in his physical society.
Towards the end of the poem, the wanderer begins to feel pity for those people still wrapped up in the torment and grief of the "middle-world."
The wise warrior must consider how ghostly it will be when all the wealth of this world stands waste, just as now here and there through this middle-earth wind-blown walls stand covered with frost-fall, storm-beaten dwellings. Wine halls totter, the lord lies bereft of joy, all the company has fallen, bold men beside the wall. War took away some, bore them forth on their way: a bird carried one away over the deep sea; a wolf shared one with Death; another a man sad of face hid in the earth-pit. (Wanderer 69)The wanderer now stands amazed at how anyone can find faith in a world which is so cruel. The world is full of strife and grief and he has been exiled away from its torments. He is the lucky one; not those who still sit in the mead hall and bow down to the lord. The world will eventually betray everyone, but the wanderer has been saved from the devastation that will occur. The earth-dweller has been saved and his duty is to now discover a new means of life. He realizes that the "Maker of Mankind" has laid waste to the Middle-earth and he was chosen to be saved. He has finally rid himself of all wants and desires of his previous existence and is ready to start anew without ever looking back at the devastation which he escaped.
The wanderer realizes the degree to which man is duped into believing his false perception of the world. They will never understand why the Earth is slowly weakening before their eyes or the reasons behind the devastation which will eventually occur. He has been lucky enough to find self-enlightenment as his means of salvation, and he will now be protected from the hurt and agony of the physical world. The rest of man will be left with unanswered questions which will never be understood.
Where has the horse gone? Where the young warrior? Where is the giver of treasure? What has become of the feasting seats? Where are the joys of the hall? Alas, the bright cup! Alas, the mailed warrior! Alas, the prince's glory! How that time has gone, vanished beneath night's cover, just as if it never had been! (Wanderer 70)These mysteries will plague the people with an unrelenting quest for knowledge. They will never obtain the wisdom which the wanderer possesses in order to understand the idea of existence. Life is never a constant factor; it can change at any given moment and the earth-dweller will now be fully prepared for whatever lay ahead. He knows to look to the "high-earth" for guidance and that the "middle-earth" is a mere fantasy of the inhabitants. Existence is decorated with pretty colors by people who are afraid to search for the truth. The wanderer is granted the strength to search and find the answers, and he is now more wise and content than ever. He escapes the condition of unknowing and traveled within himself to discover the true meaning of life. Being exiled was the best thing that could have ever happened to the wanderer for he now has an understanding of life which will guide him during his remaining time on earth.
The earth-dweller's main goal throughout the poem was to find a means of stability. He finally realized that he could achieve this through the spiritual gifts of the Lord. He now understands who the true Lord in every man's life should be. Not the lord upon whose knee we bow in honor and bear treasure, but the Lord which was responsible for all creation: God. "It will be well with him who seeks favor, comfort from the Father in heaven, where for us all stability resides" (Wanderer 70). The wanderer has now completed the cycle which he began in the beginning of the poem by referring to his kingdom lord as the almighty. Stability lies in the "high-earth" where Christ resides, not in the "middle-earth" with his former kingdom's lord. The earth-dweller was able to go through a complex process of self-healing in order to reach his desires for stability. Now he will never be alone. He will always live in the company of his true Lord: the one who gave him salvation and guided him through the journey of his soul.