One of the recurring themes in Anglo-Saxon and Medieval literature is transient nature of the world and life. Provide two ways in which this theme is expressed in Anglo-Saxon and Medieval literature.

Many of the Medieval poems from Anglo-Saxon literature emphasize fate and arbitrariness.

Explanation:

Examples of literature from the Anglo-Saxon tradition often stress the theme of fate and this can be tied more widely to the idea of transience and experiencing arbitrary power from forces beyond one's control. Old English poems like The Wanderer have a motif of being transient because the wanderer was once a successful retainer and now is in exile and walks alone and faces forces that make life and happiness transient. Another example is found in the poem called The Ruin, which reflects of the state of a crumbled ruin and how for the author he experiences nostalgia for what the structure must have been like in the past. This helps to emphasize a sense of transience because all that was once whole and complete begins to crumble and fall into ruin.