Theme The poem's theme is one common to Anglo-Saxon poetry and literature: that a man cannot escape his fate and thus can only meet it with courage and fortitude. The narrator explains that no matter how terrible a man's sorrow might be, it will pass, because God always changes things, evidenced by the alleviations of suffering in the earlier stanzas. Sociology Demonstration of Learning Exhibit. Another literary convention is the flyting2, a mocking word-contest between two warriors. Calin Ciufudean.
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