Kennings sometimes get lost in translation, but the version of “The Wanderer” we’re using maintains many of them. One of them is “earth-stepper” (line 6) in place of “wanderer” or “traveler.” Another, more obviously metaphorical kenning is “wealth-chamber,” used to refer to the mind or heart in line 14.

The Wanderer: Alliteration “Fettered my feelings far from my kin.” The Wife’s Lament: Alliteration “Forced me to live in a forest grove.” Assonance: “I make this song of myself, deeply sorrowing.”

It is the repetition of the initial consonant sound in a stressed syllable. It make memorization and recitation easier because, again, the scop could anticipate the initial sound of the next word or words. Alliteration in poetry is an important sound technique.

The sound of alliteration can help create the mood or tone of a poem or piece of prose. Softer sounds like “h” or “l” may create a more introspective or romantic mood or tone. The repetitive sounds in alliteration work with other elements like meter and word choice to create the desired mood or tone.

In the novel Beowulf; literary devices are used. These literary devices are alliteration, assonance, caesura, and kenning.

Epic. A long narrative poem about a hero. Examples: Paradise Lost, Beowulf. Foreshadowing. The use of clues to hint at what is going to happen later in the plot.

Dramatic Irony- After Beowulf kills Grendel’s mother it says “To the floor, lifeless, the sword was wet with her blood” don’t really know if she is dead. Situational Irony- Beowulf has Grendel’s mother on top of him trying to kill him but he is able to regain strength to get back up to fight and out an end to her life.

Modern Examples of Kennings

• Ankle biter = a very young child.
• Bean counter = a bookkeeper or accountant.
• Bookworm = someone who reads a lot.
• Brown noser = a person who does anything to gain approval.
• Fender bender = a car accident.
• First Lady – the wife of the president.
• Four-eyes = someone who wears glasses.

While it is true that Beowulf decides to fight Grendel barehanded, he has weapons at the ready. The sword is the most common tool used by the medieval knight, and the epithets used to characterize the sword are many. It was called a blood-worm, an icicle of blood, a wound-hoe, and an onion of war.

How does Beowulf trap and kill Grendel? Make an inference; why does Beowulf hang Grendel’s arm from the rafters of Herot? He hangs it as a trophy to show that he won the battle. Identify a kenning for Beowulf and a kenning for Grendel.

Hrothgar asked Beowulf to battle Grendel’s mother because the king believed he was the only man capable of dealing with such monsters. This was because Beowulf had earlier succeeded in mortally wounding Grendel. Grendel’s mother is grieving for the loss of her son, so she seeks revenge and attacks Herot.

Instead, he uses the arm to cement his own reputation. Grendel’s severed claw, arm, and shoulder are symbols and proof of Beowulf’s successful battle. He apologizes for not bringing the full corpse. It is, in part,to offer proof of success that it hangs from the rafters, but it is also a trophy of battle for Beowulf.

In Herot, the humans are celebrating the end of the twelve year blood bath from the feuds with Grendel. However, their revelry abruptly comes to an end when Grendel’s mother comes to Herot to avenge her child’s death. She snatches Aeschere, Hrothgar’s closest advisor, and slays him.

But it did in the movie. Hrothgar named Beowulf his successor for ridding them of Grendel “and Grendel’s mother”, even though he hasn’t really killed Grendel’s mother and Hrothgar seems to know that. But then, everyone sleeps with her in the movie.

Grendel’s mother attacks Herot because she wants revenge for the death of her son. When she leaves, she ends up taking his arm that is hanging. Who was Esher? Esher is Hrothgar’s closest friend and advisor.

The poem clearly announces that Beowulf will defeat Grendel: “[Grendel’s] fate that night / was due to change, his days of ravening / had come to an end” (ll. 733-5). Beowulf’s victory is also foreshadowed by his rhetorical defeat of Unferth in the mead-hall, and by the story of his defeat of the sea-monsters.

Beowulf is considered an epic hero because his bravery has won many battles. This bravery also makes him a tragic hero because he is a great man with the tragic flaw of pride, which leads to his death.

what thoughts comfort beowulf while he is dying? what image does beowulf wish to see before he dies? beowulf wants to see the amazing treasures, the store of gold, and the joy of jewels and gems.

Beowulf doesn’t fear the dragon because he is so proud of himself and believes God is on his side. He wants to fight the dragon alone because he wants to prove that he is still a tough and honorable man.

In the context of the poem’s society and culture, we are not to see Beowulf as too boastful. First, we are to assume that his boasts are true. Second, since Beowulf has indeed accomplished everything he boasts of, his boasting is a legitimate means of letting others know who he is and what he has accomplished.

Fifty years

Why does Beowulf refuse the crown offered to him By Higlac’s widow? Beowulf refuses the crown because their son is still alive. Beowulf becomes king when Higlac’s son dies.

Beowulf’s final words (2794 ff.) are a mixture of prayer, instruction, and farewell. Thanking God, he tells Wiglaf that he wants his ashes buried in a mound on Whale’s Cliff (Hrones-naesse) near the sea where passing sailors might look upon it and call it “Beowulf’s Barrow” (Biowulfes biorh).

Hrothgar, who had once done a great favor for Beowulf’s father Ecgtheow, accepts Beowulf’s offer to fight Grendel and holds a feast in the hero’s honor. During the feast, an envious Dane named Unferth taunts Beowulf and accuses him of being unworthy of his reputation.

The dying Beowulf tells Wiglaf to “watch his people’s needs” (by which he means that Wiglaf is to become the next king.)

What, according to Beowulf, is better than mourning a death? Avenging a death.

Although he is at first reluctant to face the dragon, he is shamed into it by Wiglaf, a young relative. Beowulf is killed by the dragon, who bites Beowulf in the neck and imbues him with poison.

Beowulf dies honorably protecting his people, and he dies happy. Most warriors don’t come to terms with the fact that they are going to die, sometimes even because they are too proud, but Beowulf can die peacefully because of all the accomplishment he has made in his lifetime. In this way Wiglaf resembles Beowulf.