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The poet also uses
parallelism and
antithesis. The scene of Beowulf’s funeral is the example.
They placed in the tomb both the torques and the jewels,
All the magnificence that the men had carlier
Taken from the hoard in hostile mood.
They left the ears; wealth in the earth’s keeping,
The gold in the dirt. It dwells there yet,
Of no more use to men than in ages before.
Then the warriors rode around the barrow,
Twelve of them in all, athelings’ sons.
They recited a dirge to declare their grief,
Spoke of the man, mouned their King.
They praise his manhood and the prowess of his hands,
They raised his name; it is right a man
Should lavish in honouring his lord and friend,
Should love him in his heart when the leading-forth
Form the house of flesh befalls him at last.
The most important feature is the use of
alliteration.
In alliterative verse, some stressed words begin with the same consonants
alliterating with each other, or a word begins with a vowel alliterating
with another word. In each line, there are generally four stressed
syllables. There is a pause separating the second and the third stress. Thus
the line is separated into two parts. Alliteration is on the stressed
syllables, and usually two or three stresses alliterate. This can be seen
from the following example:
“This was the manner of the morning of the men of the Geats,
Shares in the feast, at the fall of their lore;
They said that he was of all the world’s kings
The gentlest of men, and the most gracious,
The kindest to his people, the keenest for fame.”
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