Beowulf and Metonymy
Beowulf is an epic Old English poem that has been translated for centuries. The poem which was written around 700 AD, tells the tale of Beowulf and his legendary and ambitious monster slaying conquests. Beowulf was known to be one of the first poems to depict the story of a what was considered a hero among men. This poem is sprinkled with examples of metonymy, which is a literary term used to describe when a term is used to represent whole.
In this epic poem, Beowulf of Geats, comes to the aid of Hrothgar, king of Danes to help fight and kill the monster Grendel. Later in the poem Beowulf also kills Grendel’s mother, who came to avenge the death of her son. Beowulf’s legendary conquests and life come to an end when he fights the last monster, a dragon.
The poem begins telling the story of Beowulf’s fight with Grendel. Hrothgar had erected a grand hall they called “Heorot” where he intended to celebrate his riches and share with his people. As Heorot was a place of celebration, noise and commotion were inevitable. The poem implies that it disturbed a monster described as a “powerful demon” and “a prowler of the dark” (line 86). This demon — Grendel — comes in the night and haunts Heorot by unmercifully attacking it and those in it. After many winters of being attacked in the night Hrothgar seeks the aid of Beowulf. Beowulf decides since this demon has no armor that he will also fight with no armor and be an equal to Grendel. Beowulf epically battles Grendel and tears his arm with his bare hands and wins the fight.
The second epic battle in the poem takes place when Grendel’s mother who is described as a “monstrous hell-bride” (line 1259) attacks Heorot and steals Grendel’s bloody arm. She then goes back to her underwater home where Beowulf follows and fights her. This fight was not as easy as Beowulf’s first fight with Grendel. In this fight Beowulf’s sword fails him and he attempts to fight with his bear hands. As he is fighting, a shiny sword catches his attention. The sword is described as an ancient heirloom who’s inception was of the days of the giants (lines 1557–1559). Beowulf defeats Grendel’s mother with the ancient sword and then proceeds to behead Grendel’s lifeless body and takes it back to Heorot for display.
Beowulf’s last battle which ends his story, is against a dragon. After many years of which Beowulf becomes a king, Beowulf encounters an angry dragon who was awakened after realizing that some of its pieces of treasure was stolen by a thief. This dragon causes havoc in the town and begins to burn it down. Beowulf comes to stop the dragon and attempts to fight it with his sword. Interestingly enough, his sword fails him and his neck gets punctured by the dragon’s fangs. Beowulf meets his death, but not before he tells of his wishes for his people to construct a barrow filled with treasure for him which they called it “Beowulf’s Barrow” (lines 2797–2808).
Examples of metonymy throughout the poem help it paint a more descriptive picture of the times for the reader. Metonymy is a literary figure of speech in which a term is replaced by another term closely related to it. Metonymy is something that is used every day. A common example is when we ask “what is you favorite dish?” Here we are using the word “dish” to describe a whole plate of food and not an actual dish we would use to put food on.
For example in lines 94–95 the sun and moon as described as “earth’s lamplight”. Here earth doesn’t really have a lamp light but the author uses it to describe the attributes of light of the sun and moon. Another example is in line 1259 where the author describes Grendel’s mother as a “hell-bride”. This really doesn’t mean she was from hell but she lived deep beneath the waters, meaning closer to hell, and she was part of the banned clan of Cain so she was monstrous and demon like in a way.
