Question

Observe that as Hrothgar begins to speak about Grendel in lines 207-210, the mood becomes bleak and despairing. What repeated sounds does the poet use to suggest this mood?

Answer 1

Answer:

The repeated sounds that the poet has used in these lines to create the mood of bleak and despair is alliteration.

Explanation:

Beowulf is an epic poem written in Old English, and one of the earliest surviving text.

In lines 207-210, the poet has used the repeated sounds of alliteration to create the mood of bleak and despair.

Alliteration is a device which repeats the same consonant sound at the beginning of a word in the same sentence.

The words are, in which alliterative sounds are used, 'heavy', 'heart', 'hall.'

The poet creates bleak and despairing mood using these words. Bleak means cold and miserable, whereas, despairing means hopeless. Using repeatitive sounds of alliterative words, the poet manages to create this mood of coldness and hopelessness in lines 207-210.