Boethian similitude in 'Deor' and The 'Wanderer'

None of the many claims that either Deor or The Wanderer has received formative influence from Boethius's De consolatione Philosophiae is without problems. In an analysis of concepts like fate and Providence as used in The Wanderer and the Latin and Old English redactions of the Consolatio, it becomes clear that Boethian thought and medieval Western Christianity shared a number of axioms that predict their agreement in such matters. However, there are also differences between the two by which their respective adherents may be told apart. When such differences are sought out in The Wanderer and Deor, it is found that both these poems convey messages essentially incompatible with the Boethian world-view. While the possibility of fragmentary borrowing cannot be excluded, neither poet reflects in his work the message at the heart of the Boethian Consolatio.