Seamus heaney BEOWULF P 5-7
Intro
The passage we shall analyse is at the beginning of the poem describing the first attack of the creature Grendel
There has just been the depiction of the genealogy of the royal family of the Danes or Shieldings. The listing of the dynasty laudatorily ends with King Hrothgar who‘s built Heorot Hall, a symbol of power and wealth


plan

My first part is quite long compared to the 2nd and the 3rd ones as I’ve picked up words from the whole extract to illustrate what I amsaying in the 1st part about the character of Grendel in particular when I study its description


I setting of the characters and the place
Celebration time: men powerful and happy while the monster is lurking
First 2stanzas

1st stanza
How life takes place in Heorot:
Exaggerated even symbolical view of Heorot: everything is perfect, Heorot appears to be a prosperous place of happiness, a paradise: humans are happy ”everyday”, “banquet”, clear song” + lexical field of light: “lamplight, lanterns, gleaming, sun, moon”
The pleasant description of the Danes depicts them as harmless people devoted to God celebrating in a festive mood

But happiness can’t last
Even if everything seems all right, even if the poet draws a utopic, at least highly symbolic image of life in Heorot, the reader feels that these times can’t last and the harmful presence of the creature overshadows the whole happy description of the people and the place

The prowler - mystery
Indeed evil is present and hiding from the very first line of this passage. It is the first time in the poem that the monster is mentioned and it announces, after the introduction’s statement, the crux of the plot.
But although the monster is present from the first line, its name comes after, in the second stanza only. It is only described as a “prowler”, a creature from the dark which you can’t clearly identify. We can notice at the beginning of the second stanza the use of the indefinite determiner “one” then “A fiend”-) this delay of precisions about the monster contributes to create suspense and an atmosphere of mystery

2nd stanza
The first words of the second stanza “so times were pleasant” create a link with the 1st stanza while they definitely toll the days of delight for men with the word “until” placed in first position of the line
Then after “his evil in the world” there is a pause in the narrative in order to …

…describe the creature
The intrusion of the creature is marked by the use of powerful words “hell, evil”
The sounds of the words are meaningful
Words seem intertwined as sounds echo from one word to another: a lot of alliterations which convey the ideas of: /gr/:groaning - /m/:moaning, mystery
Grendel-) grim – demon
Grendel-) grim – gruesome – greedy : its very name expresses its evil nature
And evil also pervades what’s around him, Grendel infects its surroundings:
both creatures: Monsters - merciless - demon - malignant – phantoms - ogres
and places: Misty - moors – marches – desolate ferns
the same sounds /m/ /r/ /g/are used to describe Grendel and where it lives: this contributes to create a whole negative atmosphere, Grendel is part of an evil world

We are plunged into a world where everything is either good or bad and where places reflect the characters, this is a Manichean situation: all wickedness is embodied by Grendel in opposition with the poor human beings in pain

After being mysteriously evoked, the creature is then described in systematic opposition with how the Danes were previously depicted:
Opposition
-life/death: “feasting , drink” / “desolate, misery, hell, havoc, mourned”
-In the environment, presence or absence of light: ”lofty house”/ “marches”
-God “made” the world “for men”, gave them his blessing/ God cursed Grendel “the Creator has outlawed and condemned as outcasts” “the God-cursed brute” -) as the creature is opposed to God, we can immediately conclude that it is the fiend of men. There is also a reference to the Old Testament: Cain murdered his brother Abel which arose God’s wrath
As an exile Grendel has known misery and spends its life marauding and haunting


II Attack:change. New times
3rd , 4th stanzas

We go back to the narrative with the attack of Grendel which changes the situation set just before and which announces new times

Attack: grendel strikes quickly, hard and several times:
.Quickly: -break in the rhythm: stress on the first syllable in the choryiambus “ greedy and grim” where the two stresses fall on the same sounds
-“suddenly”
-many enjambments fasten the rhythm, the poet struggles to catch his breath again
.Hard: alliteration of striking consonants express speed but also violence: we can hear the blows as grendel hits men: lire
Several times: “no respite, again, unrelenting” grendel goes at fiercely and unrelentingly (s’acharner sur)

The poet emphasises on the surprise of the attack, on the fact that it was unexpected: despair overwhelms the men
Radical change: ”that wassail was over” :we can clearly see 2 separate times
There used to be joy : “filled, loud banquet” / “clear song telling with mastery” / “mighty prince”
-) there is now distress: “empty, deserted wallstead, no respite” / “sad lays were sung about the beset king” / “humiliated, helpless, stunned, in deep distress, aghast(atterré, frappe d’horreur)
Parataxis of adjectives to show how men are overwhelmed by the attack, all are numb and powerless


III despair :sorrow, pain
This is now a time of despair for men
5th stanza

-The word “woe” is present throughout the whole stanza with many words echoing it:-)livre p7(alliteration /w/)
-consonants hammer the last lines and convey a heavy atmosphere: lire 4derniers vers
-Many negations “never parley nor stop nor pay “ “no counsellor”(all the more so emphasised as it is a spondee at the beginning of the line)


Ccl
To conclude, we can say that the poetic use of words enables the reader to feel the atmosphere of despair taking hold of Heorot, both conveyed by the rhythm and the use of alliterations
The situation is set to expect a hero coming to restore order and peace in Heorot

quel courage !
perso j'avais complètement zappé qu'il fallait le lire