Beowulf is an epic poem that consists of many figures of speech, imagery, and most importantly- a virtuous message. Though this poem does not consist of any rhyming or rhyme schemes, it still identifies as a poem because of several different noticeable factors. Some factors that contribute to a poem include: alliteration, imagery, metaphor, personification, repetition, theme, and many more. Some of these elements are recognized in the poem, Beowulf. First, one of the main aspects of the poem is the imagery, which is prevalent in the first part of the epic. Several times, there are words and phrases that can attribute to the reader creating a mental image about the situation. For example, one line of imagery states, “of all mead-halls, deserted and useless when the moon / hangs in the skies and the sun had lit,”. This line from the poem creates imagery with words such as deserted and moon hangs. Though imagery is not the most prominent factor of …show more content…
One example of personification appears in line eight, which says, “light and life fleeing together”. In this line, light and life have human traits, because they cannot actually flee. Instead, the speaker means that happiness and joy leaves when Grendel comes to fight. Another use of personification is in line thirty-one, where it says, “If I let my sword / go where my feet were afraid to,”. Swords, like light and life, cannot go anywhere. This is a use of personification to represent that Beowulf is attempting to be led by his dignity and his bravery, instead of letting his fear, or his feet, stop him from defeating Grendel. Another example is the phrase, “death was my errand”. This phrase is not exactly personification, but it is close to personification because death is not a normal errand that is attended. This phrase is instead used as a hyperbole, which dramatizes the danger of which Beowulf will be in when he fights