themebeo Epic of Beowulf Essay - Style, Structure and Theme

Style, Structure and Theme of Beowulf A esteem of the stylistic features in the classic rime Beowulf involves a study of the poetic verse, the mental lexicon, alliteration, litotes, simile, kennings, variation and double-meaning or ambiguity. A consideration of the structure and the theme of the poem involve a wide diversity of opinion on the subject. First, permit us talk about style. The poetic conventions used by this poet overwhelm two half-lines in each verse, separated by a caesura or pause. The half-lines are joined by the oral stressing of alliterative lecture in the half-lines, both consonants and vowels (Tharaud 34). At least one of the two stressed articles in the first half-line, and usually both of them, begin with the same choke as the first stressed word of the second half-line (Donaldson 67). When a word was stressed in the first half-line, its alliterative counterpart was stressed in the following half-line the words could either complement each otherwise , like saintly/heaven or sin/enemy, or they could contrast each other like happy/wretched or warm/winter. Oft Scyld Scefing sceapena preatum monegum maegpum meodo-setla ofteah (4-5) The repetition of the s honorable in line 4 and of the m sound in line 5 illustrate alliteration, and this occurs throughout the poem, providing to the listener what the verse line of modern-day poetry provides an aesthetic sense of rightness or pleasure. The vocabulary of the poem is remarkable in several ways. First of all, about third gear of the vocabulary is compound words. For the concept of the sea there are 50 different compounds likewise there are 50 compounds ... ...d Bloom. hot York Chelsea kinsfolk Publishers, 1987. Shippey, Thomas A.. Structure and Unity. In A Beowulf Handbook, edited by Robert Bjork and hind end D. Niles. Lincoln, Nebraska Uiversity of Nebraska Press, 1997. Sisam, Kenneth. The Structure of Beowulf. In Beowulf The Donaldson Translation, edited by Joseph F. T uso. New York, W.W.Norton and Co. 1975. Tharaud, Barry. Anglo-Saxon Language and Traditions in Beowulf. In Readings on Beowulf, edited by Stephen P. Thompson. San Diego Greenhaven Press,1998. Tolkien, J.R.R.. Beowulf The Monsters and the Critics. In Beowulf Modern Critical Interpretations, edited by Harold Bloom. New York Chelsea nominate Publishers, 1987. Ward & Trent, et al. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. New York G.P. Putnams Sons, 190721 New York Bartleby.com, 2000