Question

Identify 3 elements in Beowulf that make it an epic poem and give examples of each from the text

Answer 1

Answer:

a long, often book-length, narrative in verse form that retells the heroic journey of a single person or a group of persons. Elements that typically distinguish epics include superhuman deeds, fabulous adventures, highly stylized language, and a blending of lyrical and dramatic traditions.

Beowulf qualifies as an epic poem on several of these criteria. First, it is book-length, and it is a story that is written in the verse format. It tells the tale of the main character, Beowulf’s, heroic journey to slay the monster and then much later kill the dragon. During the poem, he has several adventures and accomplishes nearly superhuman deeds, as when he kills Grendel.

Grendel is a monster that lives at the bottom of the swamp. One night, Grendel kills some of King Hrothgar’s soldiers while they are asleep. This leads the King’s people to fear Grendel, as the monster terrorizes them over a period of more than a decade. Not surprisingly, King Hrothgar...