Beowulf
Beowulf was written in eleven centuries. Beowulf was based on an Anglo-Saxon hero and its cultures. Upon reading the Beowulf poem, it shows Beowulf’s character was one of the strongest warriors in his group, therefore, he fought for the dangerous monster named Grendel. Beowulf was a young guy living alone and when he started to get recognized as a hero in their tribe because he had victories fighting Grendel and Grendel’s mother, he gains respect and acknowledgment t. In the end, the battler Beowulf had with Firedrake was his final victory and his heroic death. Beowulf also demonstrated that he was the kind of person who makes weakness his strength. While reading the poem Beowulf there were many figurative speeches used such as metonymy, kenning, and imagery to show the significance of heroism, and show a nefarious side of Grendel.
Metonymy is defined as “Metonymy is a figure of speech in which something is called by a new name that is related in meaning to the original thing or concept.” (http://www.literarydevices.com). In this pome, Metonymy is used to show how the demigod Beowulf and how it is used to show the concept of heroism. For example, when the authors wrote “The keen, inlaid, worm-looped-patterned steel was hurled to the ground: he would have to rely on the might of his arm.” (lines 1532–1534). This quote showed that steel is referenced to the actual sword or a battle, which shows that there were ready to fight the battle going back to the concept of a heroic figure. The author’s example is “Crown for king or steel for the sword” (line 109). This quote states that the crown is being replaced with the king, which shows the metonymy. In the end, metonymy is being used in this poem often to show the importance of eleventh-century writing.
Another figurative language used in Beowulf is a kenning, which is a form of a metaphor. A metaphor is used to compare two things without using like or as. Kenning is used in Beowulf to show different perspectives of what the actual meaning is. The author states “sleep of the sword”, this illustrates that the interested in stating the straight which is the fact that he has died; the author represents the sleep of sword as death. This was the last battle of Beowulf which then declares him as a hero. One other example of Kenning is when the author states “Twelve winters of grief for Hrothgar, king Of the Danes, sorrow heaped at his door by hell-forged hands.” This quote above shows how Grendel’s hands are parallel to things that represented hell. Kenning is used in this pome to show how Grendel is being shown as an evil figure.
Lastly, imagery is also being used in this pome. Imagery refers to the five senses that a person has. This pome use imagery to paint an easy picture to understand the character Grendel and show using the five senses to make the reader understand how evil and bad the character was. One of the examples of imagery used in the pome is “ A powerful monster, living down in the darkness, growled in pain, impatient” to show the reader that Grendel was evil because using words like darkens paints a clear picture. Another example imagery is “He slipped through the door and there in the silence snatched up thirty men, smashed them unknowing in their beds and ran out with their bodies, the blood dripping behind him, back to his lair, delighted with his night’s slaughter.” This quote above paints a picture of how evil he was and adds to the image of Grendel has a murderous beast and the impact helps the reader set their imagery. Imagery is used to show the evil side of Grendel.
In conclusion, Beewolf is an epic poem that uses metonymy, kenning, and imagery to demonstrate the meaning of the hero is the early century. What heroes are seen in the back of days is different from what we think of hero now. The pome gives importance to evils because it showed how Grendel played an important role in helping Beowulf fore in becoming a hero. Also showed that negative person can become immeasurable. In the end, I would urge you to read this pome.
#ENGL2322 #Beowulf
