Literary devices
Throughout Beowulf, literary devices are used frequently. Kennings, alliterations, and caesura are all found in the epic of Beowulf.
Kennings: An element in a poem that uses two words to replace another. This often is found as a hyphenation.
Examples
The mighty water witch (line 447 page 35)
*This kenning refers to Grendel's mother
The greedy she-wolf (line 425 page 34)
*This kenning also refers to Grendel's mother
Examples
The mighty water witch (line 447 page 35)
*This kenning refers to Grendel's mother
The greedy she-wolf (line 425 page 34)
*This kenning also refers to Grendel's mother
Alliteration: A group of words that has either the same letter or sound in the beginning of each word.
Examples
Spawned in that slime (line 19 page 24)
Hrothgar can hunt, here in my heart (line 174 page 28)
Examples
Spawned in that slime (line 19 page 24)
Hrothgar can hunt, here in my heart (line 174 page 28)
Caesura: In a poem, it is a pause in a line of a verse dictated by sense or natural speech.
*TIP- By ignoring the punctuation marks and focusing on reading, the epic becomes easier to understand and is more clear.
Examples
The Almighty drove those demons out, and their exile was bitter, shut away from men; they split into a thousand forms of evil--spirits and fiends, goblins, monsters, giants, a brood forever opposing the Lord's Will, and again and again defeated.
(lines 23-29 page 24)
*TIP- By ignoring the punctuation marks and focusing on reading, the epic becomes easier to understand and is more clear.
Examples
The Almighty drove those demons out, and their exile was bitter, shut away from men; they split into a thousand forms of evil--spirits and fiends, goblins, monsters, giants, a brood forever opposing the Lord's Will, and again and again defeated.
(lines 23-29 page 24)