Question

How is the exile of the three speakers in the poems from The Exeter Book similar and different?

Answer 1

There are many! But to give a brief summary: it begins with some long religious poems: the Christ, in three parts; two poems on St. Guthlac; the fragmentary Azarius; and the allegorical Phoenix. Following these are a number of shorter religious verses intermingled with poems of types that have survived only in this codex. All the extant Anglo-Saxon lyrics, or elegies, as they are usually called--"The Wanderer," "The Seafarer," "The Wife's Lament,The Husband's Message," and "The Ruin"--are found here.