In “The Seafarer”, translated by Burton Raffel, an old sailor expresses his emotions about his life on the sea and how he is affected in a sorrowful way. He longs for happiness but is unable to find it in a world controlled by fate. Fatalism was a common belief in Anglo-Saxon poetry and life in general. The Seafarer’s life was determined by fate as any other man’s life would be too. No matter what one’s merit is, their life is being predetermined by a force they can’t control. “But there isn’t a man on earth so proud, so born to greatness, so bold with his youth, grown so brave, or so graced by God, that he feels no fear as the sails unfurl, wondering what fate has willed and will do” (lns. 39-43). The Seafarer is extracting all his emotions to give the impression to the reader that although his life may be controlled by fate, the path that is chosen for him he heartily accepts and understands the power and wrath this outside force has, including God. However, he still understands that
The Seafarer has experienced life and been around the world, but the sea has shown him nothing but sorrow and fear. “It tells how the sea took me, swept me back, and forth in sorrow and fear and pain, showed me suffering in a hundred ships, in a thousand ports, and in me” (lns. 2-5). The sailor conveys how no matter what hardships the sea cast him, he still returned. He had the possibility of ascertaining fortune in the city, but he puts himself back on the paths of the sea. “The passion of cities, swelled
proud with wine and no taste of misfortune, how often, how wearily, I put myself back on