Consider Beowulf as an epic.

Consider Beowulf as an epic.

Ans. Beowulf is the single greatest story of Old English literature and one of the greatest epics of all time. The creation of this poem was said to be alive around 600 A.D. and the story was since then, been passed down orally from generation to generation. To be considered an epic, a piece of literature must exhibit quite a few specific, literary techniques. Some of the main criteria include being a long narrative poem, having an epic hero, and containing rhythm, alliteration and imagery. Beowulf can be considered an epic because it contains all of these criteria.

Beowulf, first and foremost, is a long narrative poem. It contains 3,182 lines and has been divided into forty-three sections. It has been written in a way that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience and arranged so that the language stimulates an emotional response, the basis of why a piece of writing would be considered a poem.

Beowulf also contains an epic hero. The title of the poem has been named after our epic hero, Beowulf. In definition, an epic hero is someone that does deeds larger than life and is stronger and smarter than any normal man; and Beowulf fits this description as if the mold were made for him. He has the strength of thirty men and uses it as a major weapon against evil. This can be seen through Beowulf's battles with Grendel, Grendel's mother and the dragon.

Beowulf's first accomplishment as an epic hero was his battle with Grendel. Grendel was a huge beast, a descendent of Cain, who ruthlessly murdered innocent Danes because he felt pity for himself. Upon hearing of the Dane's problem, Beowulf set off to help the Danish without having been called upon. Even though Beowulf had men backing him, he drew battle with Grendel alone and without armour or weapons. Yet, Beowulf emerged victorious with the arm of Grendel as his trophy. Beowulf then went on to kill Grendel's vengeful mother and a huge fire-breathing dragon who thought it had been done wrong by the Geats.

The rhythm used in Beowulfwas a tool used by many scoops in that era to help them remember all of the words of the epic and to set a constant beat so that more could be easily added on to the story. The rhythm of an epic was best utilized when a musical instrument, such as a small harp, would accompany the scoop as he recited his tale.

Imagery is the most important literary technique used in an epic. It is used to immerse the audience in the scene; the audience should feel every sense as if the actions were happening in real life. By using the literary techniques, outlined and explained in this paper' there's no reason for anyone to not believe that Beowulf is not an epice  Beowulf exemplifies the criteria for an epic beautifully and should be considered one of the greatest epic of all time.