In the poem "The Seafarer," the speaker references the presence of several types of birds around him as he sails in exile. Some of these birds remind him of the companions he has lost, while others appear to be associated with some facet of his exile.
The speaker mentions several types of birds whose voices remind him of and take the place of the companionship with his fellow warriors that he has lost due...
In the poem "The Seafarer," the speaker references the presence of several types of birds around him as he sails in exile. Some of these birds remind him of the companions he has lost, while others appear to be associated with some facet of his exile.
The speaker mentions several types of birds whose voices remind him of and take the place of the companionship with his fellow warriors that he has lost due to their death and/or his exile. Thus, the swan's song is a pleasure to the speaker; the noise of the gannet and the voice of the curlew remind him of the laughter of men; and the sound of gulls reminds him of drinking mead. These birds are now his companions, and he associates them with the human companions he has lost.
In addition to the birds that remind him in some way of men, the speaker also names the tern and the eagle, although these two birds seem more associated with the reality of his exile rather than serve as a reminder of lost companions and kinsmen. The speaker associates the tern with the storms on the stony cliffs, and the eagle is a constant presence of his exile. The eagle may be especially interesting with respect to the nature of the speaker’s plight as the eagle is one of the so-called beasts of battle. The beasts of battle refer to ravens, wolves and eagles, which were the animals that the Anglo-Saxons seemed to have associated with eating the dead after a battle. The fact that the speaker tells us that the eagle always cries may be symbolic of the seafarer’s association of his exile with impending death.
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