Where It All Goes Down
"The Husband's Message" is divided between two settings – the location of the lord and that of his lady – but its purpose is to bring them together.
Once upon a time, the lord and lady of "The Husband's Message" lived near one another in a nice place, where times were good and they went to lots of parties together openly as a couple. But, this being Anglo-Saxon England, feud violence forced the lord to undertake a difficult sea-voyage into exile, probably to avoid the angry relatives of whomever he killed. Now the lovers are separated by miles and miles of ocean.
The lord's exile doesn't seem so bad, though. Apparently he's living in a "pleasant land . . . of heroes" (38-39) and has managed to squirrel away lots of gold and horses. And yet there there's one important thing missing…the lady.