Literary Devices In Beowulf

The Old English epic of Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney relays the tales of the heroic Geat, Beowulf, during his lifetime. This Anglo-Saxon poem has become a large part of many upper level educational curriculums for many elaborate reasons, primarily revolving around the actions of the fearless Beowulf. This selfless hero is constantly praised and recognized for his bravery. The Dane goes out of his way to ensure the safety of others and cares more about the preservation of the honor of chain-mail shirt before he worries about himself. Based off of the title, it is very common for someone to just assume the poem with weird spacing revolves around Beowulf. It is true that the hero is a big part of the poem, there are many other striking …show more content…
Stating that the blade’s patters have been tempered in blood and never failed indicates that the sword has been used before and has brought whomever was using it success in the past. Knowing that the sword is blood stained allows close readers to think deeper about the past experiences the sword has been through. Maybe Heaney mentions the patterns because they are more visible underwater, or maybe this is not the first time the sword has ventured underwater to battle. Possibly the last time the sword was used it helped the possessor to do something incredible. Or maybe the last time it was used the holder was close to being defeated and out of no where the sword assisted in a last minute victory. While using detailed descriptive text, readers have the ability to better understand the plot line by personal visualization and imagination. Although Beowulf has been transformed into various medias, and someone could simply watch the movie or look a pictures in a comic strip having the specific word choices help bring to life the narration intended when reading the poem …show more content…
The monster is constantly dealing with this lifestyle of being empty and unhappy. He is continuously fighting an emotional battle of high points and low points. When he is alone, Grendel consumes himself by constantly grinding his own teeth. This action symbolizes the monster physically eating away the sadness in himself during the regular emotional low point in his life. A way he Where as in contrast, a high point in his life is when he travels to Herot hall and causes destruction. Grendel very much hates being alone and has the mind set of if he cannot have joy in his life others cannot have it either. Consuming others in the hall causes him to experience a rise in his emotions because he enjoys the eating of others. Through close reading one could come to the conclusion that Grendel transforms his ways of destruction, if he is not miserable consuming himself he is out transforming is aggressions into consuming others. With this comes the idea of problems never truly fading away. Problems just get transformed into something else, leaving behind consciousness. This can be understood by circling back to the story of Cain. Although he was banished for his actions, that did not completely fix the problem. Cain went on to have relatives that were just as demonic as him, this clearly did not conclude the harmful