Literary Devices in Beowulf
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
There are several important scenes involving different bodies of water in Beowulf – the dangerous sea-crossing that Beowulf and his warriors undertake to go from Geatland to Denmark; the swim...
Genre
Meter ReaderWhen you read Beowulf, unless you know Old English, you'll be reading it in translation, so you may not realize that it's actually a poem. In fact, it's written in alliterative verse, w...
Tone
The narrator of Beowulf uses several different tones over the course of this long epic poem, but throughout everything he is always super formal. This isn't a chummy, chatty, nudge-you-in-the-ribs...
Trivia
Beowulf is the oldest surviving epic written in English. (Okay, it's in Old English, but you get the idea.) In fact, it's the oldest epic poem or story in any modern(ish) European language. (Source...
Steaminess Rating
There's no sex in Beowulf. Plenty of violence, blood, gore, torn sinews, and burning corpses... but no sex.
Allusions
Cain and Abel (99-114, 1260-1268)Sigemund the Dragon-Slayer (Note: in Beowulf, the famous dragon-slayer is called Sigemund, but in Norse mythology Sigemund is just the father of the famous drago...