Beowulf commentary

Jasmine Bolden

Ms.Peifer

hour 3

english IB 10

12/15/11

English 10IB commentary: Beowulf

The hero observed that swamp-thing from hell, 

the tarn-hag in all her terrible strength 

then heaved his war-sword and swung his arm:

the decorated blade came down ringing

and singing on her head. But he soon found 

his battle-torch extinguished: the shining blade

refused to bite. It spared her and failed

the man in his need. It had gone through many 

hand-to-hand fights, had hewed the armor

and the helmets of the doomed, but here at last

the fabulous powers of the heirloom failed.

Hygelac's kingsman kept thinking about

his name and fame: he never lost heart.

Then, in a fury, he flung his sword away.

The keen,inlaid,worm-loop patterned steel

was hurled to the ground: he would have to rely

on the might of his arm.

(Beowulf 1518-1534)

This quote depicts Beowulfs perseverance and strength. It states that even though his sword had failed him, he was still able to defeat this creature from hell. Not only does Beowulf have the strength to conquer Grendels mother, he has the heart. Personification and characterization are the literary devices used to emphasize Beowulf's greatness perseverance and heart in this passage, in which are the reasons he succeeds in his battles.

This passage uses plenty of literary devices. One type of literary devices that it uses is characterization. Throughout the whole story Beowulf, characterization is used to allow the reader to fully understand the ways of the different characters. " The swamp-thing from hell the tarn-hag in all her terrible strength"(Beowulf 1518-1519) this quote lets us know about this creature that Beowuld is defeating. It describes how terrible Grendels mother is and makes it so we are able to get a good picture of her in our minds. Later in the quote a chose it states " Hygelac's kinsman kept thinking about his name and fame: he never lose heart" (Beowulf 1529-1530)  This quote says alot about Beowulf. Beowulf knows he has the title of being such a great man, and he knows he has fame, as stated in the quote, this tells us that Beowulf does have confidence and does not want to let his towns people down. This is where is true heart is shown and he decides to fight the beast with his own hands. " He would have to rely on the might of his arm" (Beowulf 1533-1534) this shows that Beowulf will not give up no matter how hard the battle gets and it shows his endurance and perserverence.

There is alot of personification used in this passaged to really draw the reader in and excite them also it is used to let us get a good picutre of these characters and what is going one. one item described using personification is Beowulfs great sword/blade " The decorated blade came down ringing and singing" (Beowulf 1521-1522) you know this is personification because swords do not literally ring and sing, they just use these words to describe how hard and swift this sword came down upon the beasts head. Quoted further it states " The shining sword refused to bite" (Beowulf 1521-1522) this daws you in because the sword that was supposed to be so great came down upon her head yet it did not pierce her skin, which leaves the reader wondering what will come next. Overall personification and characterization help the reader really visualize and understand with detail what is going on in this section of Beowulf.



This passage is a main quote in which depicts Beowulf's dedication to protecting his town. Beowulf is known to be mighty and powerful as a warrior, and many quotes in Beowulf state that, although not many talk about the heart he also has. In this part of the story Beowulf is left defenseless and odds are against him, but despite the fact that he did not have a sword and Grendels mother had him on the grown he still won the battle. Beowulfs heart and desire are the reasons he won the battle. He may have strength but if he didnt believe he could have killed Grendels mother non of his strength would have mattered and he would have beent he one getting defeated.

Antigone paper: Creon is guilty

Creon is guilty of unintentional man slaughter for the deaths of Antigone, Haimon, and his wife Eurydice. Creon drove all three of these people to kill themselves. Creons over confidence and pride, is what caused him to lose his own family members, pushing them to the point where they felt they needed to commit suicide.

Antigone was creons neice(and daughter in law) and all she wanted was to give her brother polynieces a proper burial, but creon was against this idea because he believed that polynieces was a traitor and that he did not deserve a proper burial. As a consequence for Antigone creon sent her away to a far off cave. Eventually Creon changed his mind " I've changed my mind since I'm the one who tied her up I'll go and set her free myself" ( Sophocles 1243). Although by the time Creon had gotten there, it was too late, Antigone had already hung herself.

Haimon being Antigones fiance was torn up about the fact that his soon to be wife had been killed. Soon after the messanger came to town sharing the dreadful news that, Haimon had killed himself. " by his own hand angry at his father for the murder" ( Sophocles 1310). Once Eurydice had heard about her sons death she killed herself also. The messanger shared this news with Creon " She killed herself with her own hands she stabbed her belly once she heard her sons unhappy fate" ( Sophocles 1460)

Creon did not expect for any of these murders to happen that is why they are named unintentional man slaughter, but because of the way Creon treated Antigone these tragic deathes were the result.

My name is Jasmine

Hey, my name is Jasmine Bolden i am a sophomore at Central Senior High School. I enjoy central very much I have met a very diverse group of people in the past two years and I have also formed great bonds with very many young adults. High School has been very tough the work load is quite a-lot but i still manage to achieve good grades and also balance school with my social life. I have lived in St.Paul my whole life and think of it to be a very safe environment, i have one older sister Michaela, my mother Wendy, my step-dad Raymon, and my energetic dog Coley. I am very close to my family and life has just been such a joy.

I really like helping unfortunate people and would really like to do that for a living, I'm not quite sure what specifically i want to do but helping people is definitely in my future. Some of the things that i would really like to do is go to a third world country and help them with their education, i would like to work at a homeless shelter, and help people in less fortunate cities in the united states with their education too, i want to teach people that violence is not the answer and that learning to control your emotions and actions can help solve a-lot of problems, i know im only one person but i think tha ti