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.

Poem Analysis

Analysis: “The Wanderer”

Today, the signature works of Old English poetry read much like contemporary superhero movies. The poetry often recounts epic showdowns that bring together larger-than-life figures representing forces of light and darkness, the grand theatrics of good versus evil. The Wanderer is a striking exception. The battle is long over. The conflict is not expressed by forces clashing on the battlefield but rather by forces within the survivor’s complex psychology. He is conflicted, haunted by dreams and memories, and at a loss to explain why it all happened. As such, the poem moves not toward some grand, if bloody, victory but toward insight, the quiet detonation of an epiphany. The Wanderer earns the dark reward of awareness: The world does not, cannot, make sense.

With its complex framing structure, however, the poem actually tracks another narrative journey toward insight. The poem is dominated by the journey of the Wanderer himself. He is an exile. His is a physical journey as he struggles about the frozen wasteland of an unfamiliar world far from his homeland, realizing that the world is joyless, empty, and cold. Framing that narrative of despair, however, is the story of an unnamed blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
blurred text

Related Titles

By Anonymous

SuperSummary Logo
Plot Summary
Anonymous
Guide cover placeholder
SuperSummary Logo
Study Guide
Anonymous
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
Study Guide
Anonymous
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
Study Guide
Anonymous
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
Study Guide
Anonymous
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
Plot Summary
Anonymous
Guide cover placeholder
SuperSummary Logo
Study Guide
Anonymous
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE
Anonymous
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
Plot Summary
Anonymous
Guide cover placeholder
SuperSummary Logo
Plot Summary
Anonymous
Guide cover placeholder
SuperSummary Logo
Study Guide
Anonymous
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
Study Guide
Anonymous
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
Plot Summary
Anonymous
Guide cover placeholder
SuperSummary Logo
Study Guide
Anonymous
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
Study Guide
Anonymous
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
Study Guide
Anonymous
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
Study Guide
Anonymous
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
Study Guide
Anonymous
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
Study Guide
Anonymous
Guide cover image