Beowulf's battle with Grendel begins on line 750 when Grendel seizes Beowulf's arm, not knowing that it is Beowulf, nor knowing anything of his strength. However, he immediately realizes that Beowulf is not like the other men, nor any man he has ever encountered. The battle ends on line 823, when Grendel flees, and is concluded on line 836 when we are told that Beowulf has fully ripped off Grendel's arm.
Kennings are compound metaphors...
Beowulf's battle with Grendel begins on line 750 when Grendel seizes Beowulf's arm, not knowing that it is Beowulf, nor knowing anything of his strength. However, he immediately realizes that Beowulf is not like the other men, nor any man he has ever encountered. The battle ends on line 823, when Grendel flees, and is concluded on line 836 when we are told that Beowulf has fully ripped off Grendel's arm.
Kennings are compound metaphors common in Old Norse and its derivative languages and literary cultures. One of the first encountered in "Beowulf" is "whale-road" in line 10, a metaphor for the ocean. At first glance these might seem frivolous and unnecessary to the casual reader—why not just say "sea"? Part of the answer lies in the fact that "Beowulf" originated as oral poetry, and thus it would serve the poet to have an array of imaginative phrases, with different sounds and length, to drive the telling more in the direction of art than a simple relaying of facts. Some translations attempt to preserve the extensive alliteration present in the original text, some of which is supported by kennings. For example,
syndolh sweotol· seonowe onsprungon·
burston bánlocan· Béowulfe wearð
gúðhréð gyfeþe· scolde Grendel þonan
feorhséoc fléön under fenhleoðu,
This section from lines 817-819 employs frequent kennings to construct a "s - b - g/th - f" alliterative scheme with one sound dominating each line.
Kennings used in the battle include:
- bone-adorned (probably meaning "armored")
- life-days and day-count (lifespan)
- sin-scather (using an archaic form of "scathe", meaning injury)
- bone-locks (muscles)
- slaughter-storm (massacre or gory battle)
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