The Wanderer

Anonymous · c. 975 CE · Poem · Norse / Germanic · Medieval

An exile rows alone across winter water, having buried his lord and watched the hall companions scatter; in sleep he embraces and kisses that lord again, and wakes to seabirds and falling snow. He turns from his own case to the ruined walls standing empty across the country, and asks where the horse has gone, where the rider, where the giver of treasure. The ubi sunt passage is the headwater of the English elegiac register a thousand years downstream of it.

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Attributes

Closest analogues

• The Seafarer
  Anonymous · c. 975 CE · Poem

  72% · 16 shared
  PoemPsychologicalExile & HomecomingIsolation & AlienationDeath & MortalityMedievalWandererMeditationThe SeaWintervs Selfvs Fate / Godsvs NatureElegiacLyricalNorse / Germanic
• Sea Grapes
  Derek Walcott · 1976 CE · Poem

  65% · 13 shared
  PoemPsychologicalExile & HomecomingIsolation & AlienationMemory & TimeWandererEverymanMeditationThe Seavs Selfvs NatureElegiacLyrical
• Climbing the Heights
  Du Fu · c. 767 CE · Poem

  63% · 13 shared
  PoemPsychologicalExile & HomecomingIsolation & AlienationMemory & TimeDeath & MortalityMedievalWandererMeditationvs Selfvs Fate / GodsElegiacLyrical
• Felling
  Gabriela Mistral · 1938 CE · Poem

  62% · 12 shared
  PoemPsychologicalExile & HomecomingMemory & TimeDeath & MortalityWandererEverymanMeditationThe Feastvs SelfElegiacLyrical
• Residence on Earth
  Pablo Neruda · 1935 CE · Poem

  59% · 11 shared
  PoemPsychologicalExile & HomecomingIsolation & AlienationDeath & MortalityWandererEverymanMeditationThe Seavs SelfLyrical
• Quiet Night Thought
  Li Bai · c. 727 CE · Poem

  58% · 12 shared
  PoemPsychologicalExile & HomecomingIsolation & AlienationMemory & TimeMedievalWandererMeditationWintervs SelfElegiacLyrical