Kennings In Beowulf Essay Example

The book Beowulf is about an Anglo-Saxon hero named Beowulf. Beowulf goes and helps a country that is in dire need of assistance. Years later Beowulf has to save his own country which leads to his death. In the book Beowulf, the author uses kenning to add interest to characters and objects to give the book another way to help readers picture it. Kenning is used in the 3 main battles that happen in this story( Grendel, Grendel's mother, and with the dragon).

In the first battle between Grendel and Beowulf in the mead hall the author uses kenning twice. Once to describe a character and second to illustrate that the battle was over and who won. The first example of keening was when the author wrote "Then out of the night came the shadow stalker, stealthy and swift;"( Heaney lines 703-704 page number 47). This quote was describing how Grendel appeared out of the dark night into the Herot hall. This quote is relating to the thesis because it giving an example of how the author added interest to Grendels entrance into the hall. By the author using shadow stalker, it gave a signal that something was about to happen. the second example of kenning was when the author wrote " everyone felt it who heard that cry as it echoed off the wall, a god cursed scream and the strain of catastrophe, the howl of the loser," (Heaney lines 783-786 page number 53). The quote is describing that the people could tell that the battle was at the end. This quote also relates to the thesis because it used the words howl and loser to alert readers that Grendel had lost without even mentioning his name. Theses are an example of keening being used to add that interest and create a picture for readers in battle one. In the second battle between Grendel's mother and Beowulf in the water, the author uses kenning twice. once when Beowulf first enters the water " then once she touched bottom, that wolfish swimmer carried the ring-mailed prince to her court so that for all his courage he could never use the weapons he carried"(Heaney lines 1506-1509 page number 105). This was saying that Beowulf was in the water and now in her land.

The author never really said the name, Beowulf. The author called him a wolfish swimmer which again added interest to the upcoming scene that was about to happen. if you had context remember when Beowulf talked to Unferth about his swimming you would remember that he wasn't a great swimmer. This would give you the light bulb that they were talking about Beowulf and that they were using kenning. the second time in battle two when the author used kenning was when Beowulf defeats Grendel's mother"a light appeared and the place brightened the way the sky does when heaven's candle is shining clearly"(Heaney lines 1570-1572 page number 109) this is saying the sky light up. this is an example of keening because the author used the heavens candle which is referred to as the sun. this saying impacts the text by using more than simple words like sun and water it gave the sentence meaning. both quotes above show how kenning is impacting the scenes and pictures that are painted in this story.   in battle three the author uses kenning to show how the dragon is breathing and blank. " the mound keeper went into a spasm sprouted deadly flames"(Heaney lines 2580-2581 page number 175). This quote shows the thesis that the author used words to create pictures. It describes the dragon without saying his name and by using context clues like deadly flames to tell you who he actually talking about. the author also uses kenning when he said: "the hoard -guard took to heart, inhaled and swelled up and got new wind:"(Heaney lines 2594-2595 page number 175).

The quote told us that Beowulf had been hit but he survived the first one. this is relating to the thesis because the author had said horad guard instead of Beowulf which used kenning again to say something without really saying anything at all. this quote also paints a picture of a dragon breath on Beowulf and him not dead yet just on fire. both of these quotes impact how the reader interprets the quote because they could just skip over it and not understand but if they reread and knew what to look for they would have understood. the thesis that the author used keening to paint a picture on characters was used in all of the battles is proved throughout this writing. like how in battle one he used it to describe Grendel and how Grendel lost the battle.

Also in battle two how he used it to describe Grendel entering the battle with Grendel's mother or how he used it to describe how Beowulf swam in the water. last in battle three when he describes the dragon and Beowulf without saying the names. they all related to each other because kenning it gave the readers an image of the people or things without using direct characterization or words.