The epic poem Beowulf, written in Old English by Christian monks around 750 AD, is a wonderful adventure story about a warrior who The use of description and imagery enlivensthe story, making it possible for a reader to really see in his or hermind the characters and events. Metaphors, exaggeration, andalliteration are three devices that together allow the reader toexperience this poem which is quite different than most other poetry. A metaphor is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase thatordinarily means one thing is applied to another thing to suggest alikeness between the two. Metaphors are used extensively throughout thepoem to paint a more colorful picture in the listener's mind. Thesemetaphors are used in phrases called "kennings". A kenning is adescriptive, poetical expression used instead of a simple name for aperson or thing. Beowulf is hardly ever called by his actual name.Instead there are many kennings referring to him, such as: "Prince ofthe Weders", "The Son of Ecgtheow", "The Geatish hero", and "The Lord ofthe Seamen". These kennings describe Beowulf to us in a more interestingway than just stating the hard facts. Without these kennings Beowulfwould be less interesting and we would learn less about him. Anybodywould say that describing or referring to a person by his or her nameover and over again is boring. So the use of kennings and metaphors isvery important in this long epic poem. Exaggeration is another device to make Beowulf a moreinteresting, entertaining, and dramatic poem. For example, even thoughthis story is a fantasy, it is hard to believe that the character ofBeowulf would be able to kill a monster like Grendel with his barehands. Exaggerating Beowulf's bravery makes the story more exciting.Another exaggeration used to convince us how great our hero is, is thepassage, "Over all the world, or between the seas, / Or under theheaven, no hero was greater." (671-672). This dazzles the list...
