Tolkienists.org

In the Old English elegy, The Wanderer, the protagonist roams a storm-battered seashore, alone and bereft of his liege lord, warband, and male companionship. From the descriptions of harsh weather to the conclusion the character explores Anglo-Saxon idealized masculinity, lordship in Early English Society, and experiences survivor’s guilt after a battle. I argue that The Wanderer is an account of the psychological trauma experienced by the subject of the poem akin to what modern soldiers experience today branded as post-traumatic stress disorder. I posit that this poem could have been used as a counseling tool or an allegorical tale to help men in a society at near-constant warfare in the Viking Age.