Beowulf is sometimes thought of as being a tale with the poem filled with ugly monsters and a epic hero to save the day. Beowulf is a true example of Old english literature, it is flushed with poetic language. Throughout the poem there are many types of figurative language along with descriptive examples. However Beowulf features language like kennings and only a few similes it also uses alliteration. These are used in very diverse ways to improve the poetic effect and really set Beowulf apart from other extraordinary literature.
A kenning is a poetic phrase used for the usual name of a person or thing. In Beowulf it is used to replace a more charastics name with a figurative language name. For example, the sea is referred to as the ‘whale-road’ and in the brutal scene blood is often called ‘Slaughter-dew’. However in Beowulf not every compound or hyphenated word is a kenning, you might see the phrase “almighty's enemy” and that is Grendel. For it to be a kenning it has to be used as a metaphor and also using figurative language. We will realize that by knowing that Grendel is evil and referring that to almighty's enemy. …show more content…
In lines (Beowulf 216,217) where it says “Over the waves, with the wind behind her and foam at her neck, she flew like a bird until her curved prow had covered the distance”. In these lines the speaker is using the word “like” to compare the ship to a bird. Using similes helps make the reader visualize what is being said in the story. Consider the ship sailing through the sea like a bird, it puts a image in your mind that the ship is sailing effortlessly across the waves like a bird would in the
A kenning is a poetic phrase used for the usual name of a person or thing. In Beowulf it is used to replace a more charastics name with a figurative language name. For example, the sea is referred to as the ‘whale-road’ and in the brutal scene blood is often called ‘Slaughter-dew’. However in Beowulf not every compound or hyphenated word is a kenning, you might see the phrase “almighty's enemy” and that is Grendel. For it to be a kenning it has to be used as a metaphor and also using figurative language. We will realize that by knowing that Grendel is evil and referring that to almighty's enemy. …show more content…
In lines (Beowulf 216,217) where it says “Over the waves, with the wind behind her and foam at her neck, she flew like a bird until her curved prow had covered the distance”. In these lines the speaker is using the word “like” to compare the ship to a bird. Using similes helps make the reader visualize what is being said in the story. Consider the ship sailing through the sea like a bird, it puts a image in your mind that the ship is sailing effortlessly across the waves like a bird would in the