themebeo Epic of Beowulf Essay - Style, Structure and Theme

Style, Structure and Theme of Beowulf A consideration of the stylistic features in the classic poem Beowulf involves a study of the poetical verse, the style, 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, let us talk about style. The poetic conventions used by this poet include two half-lines in each verse, separated by a caesura or pause. The half-lines are coupled by the oral stressing of alliterative words in the half-lines, both consonants and vowels (Tharaud 34). At least one of the two stressed words in the first half-line, and ordinarily both of them, begin with the same sound 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 other, like holy/hea ven or sin/enemy, or they could wrinkle 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 sound 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 rhyme 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 one-third of the vocabulary is compound words. For the concept of the sea there are 50 divergent compounds likewise there are 50 compounds ... ...d Bloom. New York Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. Shippey, Thomas A.. Structure and Unity. In A Beowulf Handbook, edited by Robert Bjork and John D. Niles. Lincoln, atomic number 10 Uiversity of Nebraska Press, 1997. Sisam, Kenneth. The Structure of Beowulf. In Beowulf The Donaldson Translation, edited by Joseph F. Tuso. 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 tiny Interpretations, edited by Harold Bloom. New York Chelsea House 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