The Wanderer Wisdom and Knowledge Quotes

With "I know it for truth," the speaker signals that he is about to give what's called a "gnomic" statement, a popularly-held opinion about how a person ought to behave. These statements are also sometimes called proverbs or aphorisms. They're expressed as being absolute truth (like the one here), although they're usually just the cultural norm of one particular group. Anglo-Saxon culture had a long tradition of gnomic sayings collected in catalogue (or list) form, many of which expressed a similar sentiment to this one: that it's best for a person to contain his emotions within himself.

With another gnomic, or proverbial, statement, the speaker gives a possible reason why it's better for a warrior to lock his emotions inside of him: because such emotions do no one any good. This bit of wisdom implies that communication or speech ought to serve a purpose: what you say or express should be useful, or you shouldn't express it at all.

In addition to regretting the loss of the wealth his lord provides, the speaker also misses his "lore-sayings," or teachings. We don't necessarily think of war-lords as founts of wisdom, but an ideal Anglo-Saxon lord needed to be as wise as he was brave. In fact, one particularly hated Anglo-Saxon king was called Aethelred the Unraed, or wisdom-less.

The man who is dealt "winters in the world" is probably an elderly man, since he has lived through many more seasons than younger people. Yet he may also be the exile, since as we've just seen, the exile experiences much more winter than most. In any case, these lines express the belief that life experiences, and not book-learning, are what truly make a person wise.

Now, the speaker launches into things the wise man knows with more gnomic, or proverbial, statements similar to the one we saw in lines 12-14. These lines contain a similar idea: that a person should think before speaking. He should not be too "quick-tongued," or quick too speak, and should not make a boast until he "knows enough," that is, knows whether or not he can fulfill it. The other proper traits for a wise man or warrior – patience, courage, not being greedy – are what we might expect. But the counsel to think before acting or speaking is a particularly Anglo-Saxon warrior value.

The culmination of the wise man's knowledge is an awareness of how awful the end of the world will be, "when all this world's weal," or bounty, stands desolate – deprived of its owners. This idea foreshadows the scene of the decaying wall and the abandoned "works' of giants." The most horrible thing the wise man can imagine seems to be the disappearance of humanity from the earth, when all human wealth and creations are left behind.

The words the wise man goes on to speak are a long ubi sunt, or "Where are they?" lament mourning the loss of life's joys. This lament emphasizes the transience of life – how everything passes away in time. The crumbling building, experience of life, and memories of slaughter lead the wise man to this certainty of transience.

"So said the wise one in mind" could refer both to the previous lines (in which the speaker reflects on the fleetingness of happiness and human relationships) and to the ones that follow. These last lines repeat the proverbial wisdom we've already seen multiple times, about how it's good for a person to keep grief contained within himself, rather than express it. This time, however, the speaker gives an exception: if the grief-stricken one knows how to "cure" his grief, it's OK for him to talk about it. The last lines suggest that the "cure" for this grief might be the Father in heaven who, in his "fastness" (stability) contrasts with the transience that has caused everyone in the poem so much grief.