notes 9/10

2-part structure
- sunrise and sunset of a hero's life
We see the sunrise of Beowulf's career. We are introduced to him as a young man who is out to win fame and honor his father's debts. His defeat of Grendel and Grendel's Mother come at the beginning of his fame. He will go on and win other honors.
Sunset:
We see the sunset of Beowulf's career and life. the second part of the story takes place over 50 years after the first part. Beowulf is an old man and has been king for a long time. We witness the end of a great career.
3-part structure
3 monsters 3 battles, each with increasing difficulty
This structure focuses on the monsters. This is a story of three monsters and three battles. The danger of each battle and each monster increases as story progress.
Parallelism
What happens in the main story is aprallel to a story that the scop sings. example the scop sing of Sigmund killin a dragon. this song parallels and foreshadows Beowulf later killing a dragon. the stories of feuds and ambushes in the text (such as the story of FINN) parallesl the ambush and burning of Herot.
Grendel: The battle with Grendel is fought in Herot and with Beowulf waiting to ambush him. Beowulf fights with his bare hands.
Grendel's mother: the battle with the mother is fought in her lair. Beowulf the intruder, swims for a day the depths of a fiery lake while the mother waits and ambushes him. he saves himself by using an ancient sword that he finds in her hall.
The dragon: The Wyrm breathes fire and contains venom. nothing compares to it, and to make matters worse, Beowulf is an old man.
Presenting the narrative with memories of the past. So you have Beowulf fighting Grendel an then a story of the past that corresponds with what happened or comments on it.
Action and Reflection; action and Wisdom; Glorious Deeds and Feuds; Battles and Wisdom about Peace.
This structure uses the idea of the Anglo-Saxon belt with the interlacing knots suggesting that all things- past and present- are connected. Wyrd.
Caesura
Litotes A kind of understatement, often humorous, where the speaker or writer uses a negative of a word ironically to mean the opposite.
Example "the graves a fine and private place, but one i don't think many embrace"

Kenning - a metaphorical phrase or compound metaphor used instead of the name of the thing. A compressed metonymy often involving a riddle.

Epic Hero
Epic Boast
Flyt Flyting