Beowulf and the elegies employ ancient verse techniques yet emphasize universal themes that still appeal to today's audience. One theme in particular, exile, especially speaks across the centuries to the modern reader. Throughout the three excerpts, The Seafarer, The Wanderer and Beowulf, exile is exemplified in various ways. Not only is exile represented at one point in each story, but, within each story the type of exile is unique. Exile by force, choice and exile by god are all ways that this theme is illustrated in these Anglo-Saxon passages. Along with the form of exile, the emotions of the character being exiled also differed within each passage. Exile is a major similarity between these three Anglo-Saxon pieces of literature.
             Exile by force is the most frequently used type of exile in the four novels studied. The Wanderer demonstrates this form perfectly. In the Wanderer, given that The Wanderer's village was wiped out during war, he was exiled from his village, and went over seas in search of a new gold lord. The Wanderer's loneliness and depression showed tremendously when he expresses his pain of exile. In line 26-29 The Wanderer states, "What a bitter companion, shoulder to shoulder, sorrow can be, when friends are no more. His fortune is exile, not gifts of fine gold." This kenning shows how depressed and lonely this man is because of the exile. His friends are all dead; he has "no mead-hall for comfort" any longer. He did not get rewarded with gold or comfort after his village was wiped out, just painful exile. The Wanderer has no one to give his loyalty to if he does not have a gold lord. He states in line 89, "And now remains only, for warriors' memorial." Indisputably, this quote states how miserable this man's life was going to be because of his forced exile. He has nothing positive in life to look forward too. The only thing The Wanderer cou...