<p> The oceans and seas play a fascinating role in human culture and literature. This thesis examines the sea imagery in several Anglo-Saxon poems in order to gain a deeper understanding of the function the sea plays in the Anglo-Saxon literary psyche. These texts include <i>Beowulf, Andreas, Exodus,</i> as well as the shorter "Seafarer" and "Whale" poems. The first part of this thesis focuses on sea imagery at the word level, analyzing Anglo-Saxon morphology and lexical compounding as a key to the metaphorical content of sea-kennings. The second part expands this focus to a textual level, examining the symbolism of sea imagery in Anglo-Saxon literature as an anthropomorphic will-power, a habitat of the monstrous, and a place of heroic action. Finally, the last part will argue for an underlying cultural archetype of the sea, based on parallel passages and common themes involving the sea in Anglo-Saxon poetry.</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:1564553 |
| Date | 23 October 2014 |
| Creators | Wilt, Brian David |
| Publisher | Truman State University |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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