Textual Analysis of Either the Seafarer - Essay Sample

Introduction

The Seafarer is a poem which is an account of the life experiences of an individual and which have brought forth several debates concerning its nature. There are scholars that have argued that the poem is a conversation between two individuals one being an old man at the sea and the other a boy from the land. However, recent explanations state that the poem is a narrative with a religious context of a man that has been able to live a big part of his life in the sea and at the time of writing the poem, he is in a meditation state thinking about both the afterlife and the life that he has lived in the sea. The poem has presented various themes through the style employed by the author. Being an old literature work, there are structure and literature problems present in the poem in the manner of writing and which have developed debates in modern world literature. The following discussion is, therefore, a textual analysis of the seafarer in relation to the literary techniques and themes that have been developed through the text by the author.

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The poem has employed the use of old English which has its own manner of presentation in terms of alliteration of sounds for the syllables that are being stressed instead of placing rhymes towards the lines' ends. In modern literature, such technique might be complicated to incorporated and can be done typically in the old language as seen in the 31st and the 32nd lines of the poem where the original form of English has been used such as; "hail fell on earth then". The line separation into halves is also a notable feature of the poem as seen in the same lines mentioned above. However, the conjoined sentences are supported by the relative alliteration of the sounds (h and n) which are placed in either of the lines. In addition, alliteration method is used I almost all line and at least twice. This style of structuring the poem creates a hidden rhythm. In addition, the rhyming has been made complex through the use of the old original form of English which might be a hard task to comprehend.

The style used by the poet in the structuring of the poem also includes the use of symbolism which is a feature that was common in the medieval period of poetry. There are several symbolisms that have been employed in the poem but the 'ship at the sea' appears to be most noticeable in the poem. This was a phrase that has been widely used by other poets and has found its place in various sections of the poem. The metaphor is meant to express the life of a human being which is compared to the state of a ship surrounded by much emptiness. The author of the poem creates a vivid description of the events he accounts for in the poem. This has been achieved again with the use of imagery in the poem to explain the bareness and the cold that is present in the deep seas where the sounds of the waves dominate the entire environment. This is done in the effort of explaining the loner nature of the poet as well as his dissertation into the seas a feeling only the seamen could understand. Through the explanation the lonely life of the author there is the revelation of other experiences and occurrences in the sea in comparison to the life on land.

The theme of religion has been promptly developed in the flow of the poem. As mentioned in the above discussion, the recent analysis of the book has explained that the poem is an account of a religious setting expressed through the experiences of the author who then notes down the occurrences in his meditation. The poem has offered a thought of contemplation regarding the afterlife of man through the comparisons made with the life at the sea. The Seafarer is a person who has traveled across the world and has been to a number of places as accounted for in the poem which qualifies him to explain the experiences in his own understanding. The poem has revealed Christianity in form of the symbolism of the waves and the Christians being the sailors that are tossed in directions as a representation of a bitter life of believing. When compared to the religious story of Noah, the boat serves as the ark meant to protect the animals from the great waves of the seasons. Symbolically the ship at the ocean explained by the author might be the representation of the seafarer's faith where the ships are his religious faith protecting the sailors (Christians) from the sinful as well as the fallen world (sea waves).

Conclusion

According to the above discussion, it is clear that the poet has been able to employ several literature styles of writing in the effort of passing the hidden accounts of his experiences to the reader. Religion is among the themes that have been greatly expressed in the poem as the poem is an account of the sea experiences and religious relations.

Works Cited

Gordon, Ida L., ed. The Seafarer. Manchester University Press, 1979.