Land locked and loving it, the typical high school student leads an idle and unreal life. To say that their life is unreal does not mean that they are dead, but when the hardest decision of the day is wether or not to eat at Wendy's, one must question how in touch with the real world these students actually are (this author included). Living in an environment that focuses on a pain-free, easy life, it is hard to connect with the old-English mariners who wrote "The Seafarer" and "The Wanderer." Both poets knew that a terrestrial in "ignorant ease" could not understand the call that drove these men to endure such hardships.
             The separation of life styles between both mariners and people on the land is part of what creates isolation that is so prevalent in both poems. As the Seafarer puts it: "No man sheltered on the quiet fairness of earth can feel how wretched I was."(Lines 12-14 Seafarer). Both the Seafarer and the wanderer are in exile of some kind, but its causes are different. The sea is what keeps the Seafarer apart from the world and creates his exile. However, The Wanderer is actually in exile for some unclear reason, although it does mention that he has lost his king and is in search of a new one. This is also a difference between the two. The Seafarer chooses to go, drawn by some primal urge and want for adventure to the sea. The Wanderer, in contrast, is "hoping to find a place, a people, a lord to replace my (his) lost ones." (Lines 24-26 Wanderer).
             While isolation is a significant focus in both poems, death is also a main point of interest. Because both poets live out on the harsh, cruel sea, they are surrounded by death and threatened with its presence constantly. While the Seafarer states that death would be better than some of the experiences he has had clutched in the oceans icy grip, he is still battling. He knows that death and being with God is his ultimate sanctuary, but he is still looking to do something grea...