“Wulf and Eadwacer” is an Anglo-Saxon poem found in the 10th century Exeter Book and famous for its difficult interpretation. I believe this poem is essentially an expression of wife and mother’s grief.
In the very beginning, it is made clear that by its context and emotional mood, “Wulf and Eadwacer” was written by a woman. In the beginning, it describes a stronghold on the island, protected by blood-thirsty barbarians: “A fastness that island, a fen-prison. Fierce men roam there, on that island” (lines 5-6). Furthermore, it is made clear that these people will slaughter the man about whose fate the narrator is concerned, if he comes with an army. Due to the fact that the citadel is referred to as prison, one can assume that the woman is being kept captive by the people her Wulf, probably the military leader of another tribe, is in conflict with. In the subsequent lines, it is made clear that the Wulf was often involved in various military campaigns and their separation was painful to her.
As a result, the woman became a wife of the warrior named Eadwacer who once captured her, despite the controversial feelings of pleasure and hatred associated with him: “when the bold warrior wrapped his arms about me,/I seethed with desire and yet with such hatred” (lines 12-13). The woman obviously blames herself for her conformity and justifies the marriage to another man with unbearable suffering, which she endured when Wulf left her for a long time. Further, it is revealed that the main character has a “pitiful” (line 17) child, whose biological father was probably Wulf. The narrator states that her ex-beau will secretly take the baby to the woods, probably because his/her life is in danger in this fortress. In the end, the woman holds that men are careless in relationships with the opposite gender and easily forget them, probably reproaching Wulf who failed to become her husband.