Jon,
I'd prefer to discuss this poem (or any poem) with you when you weren't
relying upon vague recollections. The Wanderer depicts the psychological
trauma of a bloody massacre within the framework of Boethian philosophy
(his Consolation of Philosophy was the most widely read book in medieval
Europe).  As you'll recall, Boethius, by order of Emperor Theoderic, the
Arian Barbarian, had his skull slowly crushed by iron bands which were made
to close around his head ever more tightly. 'Mutability' is not the mot juste.

The poet of The Wanderer, btw, *is* the "original poet"; they're one and
the same; The Wanderer is not an oral-lay but a tightly constrained
*literary* work that uses the formalities of chiasm and numerical
compositional constraint as a sort of checksum to guard against unfaithful
transmission in an age when poems were copied out by hand or memorized. The
deciding factor in determining whether a work from this period is
'literate' as distinct from and 'oral' is not whether pen and ink were used
during its composition, and not whether pen and ink were used in its
transmission, and not whether oral-formulae are employed, but the fact that
the poem as it stands is a "perfected" work that does not admit of any
alteration, loss, or accumulation of new detail without violence to its
form. There was, in fact, a bit of doggerel insinuated into the manuscript
by some windbag, probably a 10th c. Benedictine, and those few lines of
platitude stand out as would an Ogden Nash couplet in "Exile's Letter".

Tim Romano

At 12:03 PM 3/6/03, Jon & Anne Weidler wrote:
>Tim-
>
>I don't have my translation handy, but from what I remember of the
>Wanderer, its metaphysics are sort of dualistic: earth is a place of
>bitter breast care, transient, impermanent (tricksy, false).  The
>sufferings we endure here in this land are the consequences of constant
>mutability.  Only in heaven is that mutability overthrown.  Heaven, the
>place of no change, is the place of happiness and rest.  One might
>argue (and many have) that this worldview reflects more of the monastic
>scribes than it does the Wanderer's original poet.  Whether or not this
>matters I leave to more capable hands.
>
>Comparing the Wanderer to Buddhist metaphysics, this duality makes
>quite a difference: Buddhist cosmology dictates that not even the
>lifespan of gods is permanent, and that everything necessarily changes
>according to laws of interdependent origination (this happens, so that
>happens, neither cause nor effect distinct or ultimately separable.)
>This unity of heaven and earth, through the figure of constant,
>interlinked change, is productive of both suffering and the cessation
>of suffering.  The sharp division in the Anglo-Saxon poem, on the other
>hand, renders the changes that produce suffering as strictly sub-lunary
>phenomena, to be abandoned and escaped in heaven after death.  The poem
>sounds Christian in many ways; on the other hand, maybe the memory of a
>massacre and the painful absence of friends and caregivers prompts a
>theodicy that sounds Christian enough to be confusing to later readers.
>
>Once again, we must wonder about the monastic scribes.  As a cautionary
>note, some excellent readings of The Wanderer and The Seafarer, and
>their cousin poem The Dream of the Rood, read the action of the poem as
>figurative of monastic exile, of long vigils in the chapel, of cold
>hours spent far from the human comfort of cities.  Perhaps the monastic
>scribes and the original poets of these Anglo-Saxon poems are not so
>far removed from one another.
>
>I really like this poem, Tim, and I thank you for bringing the website
>to my attention.  I could not find your translation there -- all I
>found was a searchable text of the Anglo-Saxon, which is also very
>good.  Do I need further instructions?
>
>Sincerely,
>Jon
>
>Wel bith tham the him are seceth, / frofre to Faeder on heofonum, /
>thaer us eal seo faestnung stondeth
>
>(with apologies to the A-S consonants that the e-mail program couldn't
>recognize.)
>
>On Thursday, March 6, 2003, at 06:07  AM, Tim Romano wrote:
>
>>Yo Mo Fo
>>Take a look at my translation of the Anglo-Saxon poem known as "The
>>Wanderer" and you'll see a western mind struggling with the memory of a
>>massacre and the destruction of his paideuma. Is his resignation
>>comparable
>>to the Buddhist worldview?
>>Tim
>>www.aimsdata.com/tim
>>
>>
>>At 11:15 PM 3/5/03, Peter Bi wrote:
>>>O Mi Tu Fo
>>>
>>>--- these famous Buddhism words mean nothing. And this is exactly
>>>Buddha
>>>would suggest one to face tragedies like Nanjing Massacre, Holocaust,
>>>or
>>>Dresden Bombing.  I found this is kind of sorry that in western
>>>cultures,
>>>there is lack of good solutions for treating unfairness, death and
>>>sadness
>>>etc. "Forgiveness", for example, comes with the implication that
>>>one's side
>>>is right and the other is wrong. "Memorial", would not only ask one to
>>>remember the glory but also to extend one's hatred to the next
>>>generations.
>>>
>>>If Pound was here, would he have another look at Buddhism ? (I read in
>>>several places that he might not like it.) Anyway, in history, there
>>>is
>>>never a war under the name of Buddha, not even a complaint of
>>>unfairness!
>>>(correct me), although the whole religion or philosophy, which
>>>consists of
>>>hundreds, if not thousands, times more pages than the Bibles, is
>>>dedicated
>>>to the topics.
>>>
>>>(To the above two concept: Buddhism does not accept "rightness" at
>>>the first
>>>place and "memorizing" is especially harmful for the peace of mind.)
>>>
>>>
>>>Hongguang
>>>
>>>
>>>----- Original Message -----
>>>From: "Jennifer Wilson" <[log in to unmask]>
>>>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>>Sent: Tuesday, March 04, 2003 6:54 PM
>>>Subject: Pound's nomination to Writers Corner
>>>
>>>
>>> > Several years ago Pound was nominated to the Writers Corner of the
>>>Cathedral
>>> > of St. John the Divine in New York.  His nomination was subsequently
>>> > rescinded when a member of the congregation circulated a petition
>>>noting
>>> > intention to demonstrate.  She was a converted Jew and several of
>>>her
>>>family
>>> > members had perished in the Holocaust.  Because the Cathedral
>>>considers
>>> > itself a national ecumenical institution, church leaders determined
>>>in
>>> > conference with others in the community that a reversal was in the
>>>best
>>> > interest of the church.
>>> >        Although the Writers Corner is a program of rather recent
>>>vintage,
>>>the
>>> > reversal of a nomination was and is unprecedented.  Perhaps in a
>>>gesture
>>>of
>>> > protest, E. L. Doctorow made note in his induction of F. Scott
>>>Fitzgerald
>>>the
>>> > evening that Pound would have been inducted, that Fitzgerald was
>>> > anti-Semitic.
>>> >        In response to the rescission, Donald Hall, the Elector who
>>>nominated
>>> > Pound, resigned in protest.  I have a letter from him describing the
>>>events.
>>> > A recent phone conversation with Elector Carolyn Kizer generated her
>>>comment:
>>> > "Disgraceful."  I have also visited with Lynn Chase, who endowed the
>>>Writers
>>> > Corner, and Daniel Hoffman, who chaired the nomination committee.
>>>At the
>>> > time Hoffman noted that he would maintain the blank stone for
>>>Pound's
>>> > eventual inclusion, but in our recent phone conversation he didn't
>>>sound
>>> > optimistic.
>>> >        I would be most grateful for any information you may be able
>>>to
>>>offer
>>> > on this nouveau Bolingen.
>>> >
>>> > Jennifer Wilson