The Light at the End of the Tunnel:The Underlying Message of the Seafarer

Authors Avatar

Brendan Geiger

Mr. Moxy

Honors English 8

20 September 2010

         The Light At the End of the Tunnel: The Underlying Message of “The Seafarer”

        “The Seafarer”, one of the few ancient poems of oral tradition to survive pre-Christian Britain, is anything but a fairytale. It tells the story of a lonely man, completely isolated as he struggles with the hardships of a life at sea. The seafarer tells of winters in which he was sent drifting through hellish storms not knowing if he would escape alive. He also tells how, not only he suffers physically from his life at sea, he also suffers emotionally from not having a soul to comfort him along his journey. Although the suffering he endures is plentiful and he longs for companionship, the seafarer continues to return to the sea because he knows that it is his destiny. Throughout his story, the seafarer expresses his strong belief in fate. Though his life may be sorrowful, the seafarer understands that his path is predetermined and that there is nothing he can do to change that. So, rather than fighting his fate, the seafarer humbly accepts his life knowing that a firm reliance in God will guide him to heaven. “The Seafarer” illustrates that, although life is full of struggle, one must conquer their fate and have faith in God in order to be rewarded with eternal salvation.

Join now!

Along the seafarer’s journey, he proves that one must endure, and strive to make the best of, the hardships that are brought upon him along his predetermined path. Isolated in the bitterness of winter, the seafarer is left to face the unforgiving cold on his own. When recalling winters past, the seafarer proclaims, “My feet were cast/ In icy bands, bound with frost,/ With frozen chains.” (8-10) Though nature’s torment, the Seafarer shows that the path to eternal salvation is one that tests the will of man. Furthermore, God does not reward those who stray from fate’s intended path. The ...

This is a preview of the whole essay