LITERARY ANALYSIS: BEOWULF

	Title: Beowulf
	Author’s biography: Unknown
STYLE	Apart from the poetic qualities of the alliterative verse in whichBeowulf is written the epic has a grand, majestic style that seems to lift you up as you read it.
Theme	The theme of the epic Beowulf is loyalty. This is true because loyalty was one of the most important qualities a man could possess in Beowulf's time. Beowulf’s loyalty and honor saved Hrothgar’s country and his people. Beowulf stands apart from other men because of his extraordinary loyalty to his king.
Setting	Beowulf was first told in Anglo-Saxon England sometime between the 8th and 11th centuries, but it's not about that time and place. It's actually set several hundred years earlier, in the 5th or 6th century. And it doesn't take place in England.
Characters	Beowulf -King Hrothgar-  Grendel -  Grendel’s mother - The dragon -  (principals
Plot
*Conflict	A Geatish warrior, Beowulf, throws his armor and weapons aside and fights the demon Grendel in a wrestling match to the death.
*Climax	Back home in Geatland, Beowulf must defend his people against a marauding dragon. Just when you think Beowulf is going to live happily ever after, he has to face his greatest challenge yet: a fifty-foot-long firebreather. If anything screams "climactic battle scene," it's the arrival of a dragon.
*Resolution	Beowulf is mortally wounded, but manages to kill the dragon and win its hoard of treasure
Figurative Language
*Metaphor	In the line "The head of Grendel, with heavy toil; / Four of the  stoutest, with all their strength, / Could hardly carry on swaying spear  / Grendel's head to the gold-decked hall."
Imagery	The imagery in Beowulf consists mostly of alliteration and metaphor. Many apparent hyperboles describing the feats of Beowulf are not true hyperboles, since what appear to be exaggerations–such as a passage saying Beowulf swam from Sweden to Finland or a passage saying Beowulf had the strength of thirty–were intended to be taken literally.
Mood	Because it is a long narrative poem, the mood shifts throughout the work, depending on the action or purpose of each scene.  It is certainly a mood of terror and suspense when Grendal attacks...
Point of view	The narrator recounts the story in the third person, from a generally objective standpoint detailing the action that occurs. The narrator does, however, have access to every character’s depths. We see into the minds of most of the characters (even Grendel) at one point or another, and the narrative also moves forward and backward in time with considerable freedom.