Literary Devices used in Beowulf
The sound of a crackling fire, reveals that a legendary story is about to be told. Friends and villagers gather around to hear what the story teller has in store for the night; spirits, goblins, monsters, what will it be? A long time ago, when the Pagan Anglo-Saxon period was being introduced to Christianity, heroic stories would be told to all the villages people. There, a famous epic was passed down from generation to generation; Beowulf. Even long ago, in ancient England, their stories would include many literary devices such as conflict, imagery and symbolism. First of all, conflict is the number one literary device used in the epic poem, Beowulf. As the story starts, the audience is directly lead into …show more content…
As the tale goes on, Grendel comes back for his nightly meal, little does he know Beowulf is anticipating him. During Grendel’s feast, the mighty warrior, as Joan writes, “He is peerlessly noble, brave, and strong”, is watching, waiting for the right time to make his move, and so it comes. Grendel is nothing but fearful when he sees that Beowulf is not like any other person he has seen, the writer says, “That shepherd of evil, guardian of crime, / knew at once that nowhere on earth/had he met a man whose hands were harder;/his mind was flooded with fear- but nothing/ could take his talons and himself from that tight/ hard grip” (lines 325-330). This quote uses a lot of adjectives to show the imagery within the sentence, and makes it more intriguing to read. Imagery is a device used to show depth, and to be able to let the listeners imagine what is actually going on in the poem and create their own visual in their heads. It is popular to see most of the imagery in or during the main conflicts in the poem, an example, “…But Higlac’s follower remembered his final/boast and, standing erect, stopped/ the monsters flight, fastened those claws/ in his fists till they cracked, clutched Grendel/closer” (lines 333-337). For this quote, the writer uses the words like ‘standing erect’, ‘fastened those claws’ and ‘they cracked’, to give listeners and readers a visual understanding as to how the fight is coming about. With imagery, we are able to see the picture the author is trying to portray much more easily and as readers, enjoy the story
The sound of a crackling fire, reveals that a legendary story is about to be told. Friends and villagers gather around to hear what the story teller has in store for the night; spirits, goblins, monsters, what will it be? A long time ago, when the Pagan Anglo-Saxon period was being introduced to Christianity, heroic stories would be told to all the villages people. There, a famous epic was passed down from generation to generation; Beowulf. Even long ago, in ancient England, their stories would include many literary devices such as conflict, imagery and symbolism. First of all, conflict is the number one literary device used in the epic poem, Beowulf. As the story starts, the audience is directly lead into …show more content…
As the tale goes on, Grendel comes back for his nightly meal, little does he know Beowulf is anticipating him. During Grendel’s feast, the mighty warrior, as Joan writes, “He is peerlessly noble, brave, and strong”, is watching, waiting for the right time to make his move, and so it comes. Grendel is nothing but fearful when he sees that Beowulf is not like any other person he has seen, the writer says, “That shepherd of evil, guardian of crime, / knew at once that nowhere on earth/had he met a man whose hands were harder;/his mind was flooded with fear- but nothing/ could take his talons and himself from that tight/ hard grip” (lines 325-330). This quote uses a lot of adjectives to show the imagery within the sentence, and makes it more intriguing to read. Imagery is a device used to show depth, and to be able to let the listeners imagine what is actually going on in the poem and create their own visual in their heads. It is popular to see most of the imagery in or during the main conflicts in the poem, an example, “…But Higlac’s follower remembered his final/boast and, standing erect, stopped/ the monsters flight, fastened those claws/ in his fists till they cracked, clutched Grendel/closer” (lines 333-337). For this quote, the writer uses the words like ‘standing erect’, ‘fastened those claws’ and ‘they cracked’, to give listeners and readers a visual understanding as to how the fight is coming about. With imagery, we are able to see the picture the author is trying to portray much more easily and as readers, enjoy the story