Beowulf: Grendel
Evidence: Quote; Page/Paragraph/Line Number
Page 42 Lines: 1-2
A powerful monster, living down
In the darkness, growled in pain, impatient
Literary Device & Analysis
Alliteration:
Page 42 Lines:
Page 42 Lines: 10-14
To glow across the land and light it;
The corners of the earth were made lovely with tree
And leaves, made quick with life…
As now warriors sang of their pleasure
Page 44 Lines:
Allusion:
Page 44 Lines: 26-29
--Spirits
And fiends, goblins, monsters, giants,
…again and again defeated.
Universal theme:
Page 44 Lines:
Alliteration: An ‘S’ sound similar to the symbolic
depiction of Z’s. The ‘S’ gives us the mental picture
of the men sleeping soundly as the monster creeps
among them.
Page 44 Lines: 37-38
Snatched up thirty men, smashed them
Unknowing in their beds and ran out with their bodies
Symbolism: 30 men = 30 pieces of silver that was paid
to Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus. Just as Judas’s
betrayal was an act of pure evil, so is this act of
Grendel’s.
Page 44 Lines: 44-49
Hrothgar, their lord, sat joyless
In Herot, a mighty prince mourning
The fate of his lost friends and companions
…fearing
The beginning might not be the end.
Beowulf: Grendel
Page 45 Lines:
Symbolism:
Page 45 Lines: 64
Hell-forged hands
Kenning:
Page 45 Lines: 83-85
Dared to touch king Hrothgar’s glorious
Throne, protected by God—God,
Whose love Grendel could not know.
Symbolism:
Page 45 Lines:
Paganism Versus Christianity: We notice here that the
poetry takes on a sermon-like quality. We should
remember that experts believe monks added/altered the
original text to depict more Christian-like beliefs.
What is the point/moral we are supposed to take from
this message?
In what way do these lines help establish our universal
theme?