The Middle Ages

Joseph Curry
Sep 4, 2018 · 2 min read

“Then a powerful demon, a prowler through the dark, nursed a hard grievance. It harrowed him to hear the din of the loud banquet every day in the hall, the harp being struck and the clear song of a skilled poet telling with mastery of man’s beginnings, how the Almighty had made the earth a gleaming plain girdled with waters; in His splendour He set the sun and the moon to be earth’s lamplight, lanterns for men, and filled the broad lap of the world with branches and leaves; and quickened life in every other thing that moved” (Heaney 86–98).

By using the element of suspense, tone and imagery, the author of Beowulf is beginning to introduce who the antagonist of the passage is. The author uses the element of suspense because he starts off by saying “…a powerful demon, a prowler in the dark…” (Heaney 86). After he states this, the author begins talking about how a poet is reciting one of his works about how “the Almighty” made the world. The poem included lines with vivid imagery about how the Earth was created. These details were included in this passage so that the reader was exposed to a suspenseful and insidious environment. The insidiousness is evident when the author is first speaking about the demon-like creature, and then proceeds to speak about the creation of the beautiful world. A tone shift is present in this part of the passage. In lines 86–88, the tone is gloomy or suspenseful tone; where in lines 89–98, the tone is very beautiful. This is evident also through the use of vivid imagery. The tone is also displayed through the author’s diction. The word choice of the author helps the reader convey a meaning about what is actually going on within the passage, or in this case, these few lines. Tone is driven very much so through diction. This is because the author’s word strongly convey their attitude toward the writing. So in this passage, the author is using specific details to add suspense and insidiousness by the word choice influencing the tone.