Section: Literary Terms
Heading: Beowulf, Lit. Devices Exercise, 12
Date:
Directions: Read the following passages from Beowulf. Determine the literary
device(s) in each passage.
1. …No one
Waited for reparation from his plundering claws:
That shadow of death hunted in the darkness,
Stalked Hrothgar’s warriors, old
And young, lying in waiting, hidden
In mist, invisibly following them from the edge
Of the marsh, always there, unseen. (p. 50, 72-78)
2. Ready for what came they wound through the currents,
The seas beating at the sand, and were borne
In the lap of their shining ship, lined
With gleaming armor, going safely
In that oak-hard boat to where their hearts took them. (p. 51, 108-112)
3. The wind hurried them over the waves,
The ship foamed through the sea like a bird
Until, in the time they had known it would take,
Standing in the round-curled prow they could see
Sparkling hills, high and green,
Jutting up over the shore, and rejoicing
In those rock-steep cliffs they quietly ended
Their voyage.
(p. 51-52, 113-120)
4. “…I’ll guide you
Myself—and my men will guard your ship,
Keep it safe here on our shores,
Your fresh-tarred boat, watch it well,
Until that curving prow carries
Across the sea to Geatland a chosen
Warrior who bravely does battle with the creature
Haunting our people, who survives that horror
Unhurt, and goes home bearing our love.” (p. 53, 188-196)
Section: Literary Terms
Heading: Beowulf: Examples of Literary Devices
Date:
Jot down examples of each of the following devices.
GRENDEL ATTACKS THE DANES:
Allusion: a reference to a specific person, place, historical event, or work of art
Simile: a comparison between two unlike things using like or as
Personification: a figurative device in which the author gives human characteristics to
something that is not human
Kenning: a stock metaphorical phrase used instead of a simple noun to identify
something with something it is not
THE COMING OF BEOWULF:
Epithet: a word or phrase that is added to or substituted for the name of a character
Personification:
Simile:
Metaphor: a direct comparison between two unlike things
Synecdoche: a substitution of a part for a whole or a whole for a part
THE BATTLE WITH GRENDEL:
Personification:
Foreshadowing: a hint or clue as to the outcome of an event
Epithet:
Caesura: an obvious pause in a line of poetry
Hyperbole: extreme exaggeration
THE BATTLE WITH GRENDEL’S MOTHER:
Epithet:
Simile:
Personification:
Situational Irony:
Symbol: any person, animal, place, object, or event that exists on literal and figurative
levels
Metaphor:
THE BATTLE WITH THE DRAGON:
Apostrophe: a literary device in which a speaker talks directly to an inanimate object, a
person who is absent or dead, or an abstract quality
Kenning:
Simile:
Foreshadowing:
Personification:
Situational Irony:
Epithet:
Verbal Irony: when a character says something but means the opposite of what he/she
says
Symbol:
Metaphor:
THE FUNERAL PYRE:
Foreshadowing:
Personification: