Beowulf is a classic epic that dates back to the Anglo-Saxon time period. It is probably the first known work of English literature. There are many ways to evaluate this piece of literature in its various levels, beginning with level one, the story literally. The story of Beowulf is that which is similar to many stories and epics. It is a classic story of a kingdom that finds themselves in trouble from a monster that is terrorizing, and killing people at random. Then along comes a hero, Beowulf who slays the monster and saves the kingdom. However, then along comes another monster, who eventually is saved by Beowulf again. Then Beowulf becomes the ruler of his kingdom, kills some more monsters, and eventually dies. .
It is a very basic plot that does not require too much thought to figure out. However if you look at the language of the piece you can find that the writer uses many literary devices to enhance the language, and make it more interesting. .
One of the most obvious device used by the writer in Beowulf is alliteration. There are many examples of this technique throughout the story, let me list a few: line 243, "the sea-weary sailors set down their shields" here the writer uses an "s" sound to alliterate the words, in another example the writer uses an "f" sound, "foe against foe I"ll fight the monster." It is said that using the alliteration technique would help the poets reciting the story to remember how the story goes. Also by using certain sounds in the alliteration the writer can portray certain feelings. For example in line 80, "grim and greedy the gruesome monster." Here the writer uses a sort of "grr" sound to imitate a growling, which helps the reader to visualize how the monster may be. There are many more examples throughout the story which shows that alliteration was a widely used technique during this time period. .
Another technique found in this story is the use of kennings.
