ShmoopTube

00:04

If you've ever cracked open Beowulf, you've probably noticed that it's full of some great [The Beowulf book is cracked like an egg]

00:09

stuff: brave warriors, terrible monsters, a mead hall with exquisite architecture, maybe

00:15

some old knock knock jokes in the margins, if you're lucky… [The stuff falling out of the book into a bowl]

00:19

But, this being an epic poem, it also contains a lot of great poetic techniques that give

00:24

Beowulf some extra oomph. ['Big Book of Poetic Techniques' knocks the bowl off the table]

00:27

So let's check 'em out.

00:28

One that comes up all over the place is caesura.

00:33

A caesura is a pause that occurs in the middle of…

00:37

….. [Pause button appears]

00:39

…..a line or verse in poetry.

00:41

Hehe. See what we did there?

00:43

There are lots of ways to create a pause in poetry.

00:45

Think of all the punctuation marks that we use in prose: periods, commas, and semicolons…they're [Bottles labelled with the punctuation are put on the desk]

00:51

all great at creating pauses.

00:53

They're not so great at putting on puppet shows or baking cakes, but we all have our [Exclamation running round with cakes on fire in the oven]

00:57

strengths.

00:58

We can see a couple of caesurae in action if we look at these lines from Beowulf.

01:02

See those commas that sit in the middle of each of those lines? [Arrows pointing to the punctuation]

01:06

Those little guys create a pause in the middle of each line, so yup, we've got a couple of

01:11

caesurae on our hands.

01:13

These caesurae aren't just there because they sound cool; they're also pretty useful.

01:18

The Anglo-Saxons were fond of caesurae because all those pauses created a rhythm that helped [Guy holding a old instrument]

01:24

them remember the poem.

01:26

Unlike us, Anglo-Saxon orators didn't have a handy dandy Kindle copy of Beowulf that they

01:32

could consult every time they got stuck.

01:35

We also see a lot of alliteration in Beowulf.

01:39

Alliteration is the repetition of initial consonant sounds.

01:43

And we absolutely adore any and all awesome alliterations.

01:47

Absolutely. Adore. Any. All.

01:50

However, the alliteration in Beowulf doesn't get too crazy.

01:53

After all, it's not Beowulf Bumbles Beautifully towards Big Blue Boats. [Guy walking funny with crossed eyes]

01:58

It's a bit more subtle, like in this passage:

02:02

See all those t's and h's in the first line, and all the f's and w's in the second?

02:07

Those similar sounds give us a nice, hearty stew of alliterative goodness. [Bowl full of letters]

02:12

Beowulf has another poetic trick up its sleeve: kennings.

02:17

A kenning is a highly figurative phrase that uses a combination of words to create a metaphor.

02:23

We can find these all over the place in Beowulf.

02:26

For instance, the phrase "wave walker," which means ship, and "whale road," which means [The word meanings are shown]

02:33

the sea.

02:34

Or a railway for whales.

02:37

We kind of hope they're clever enough to coin "Whale Road." [Guy is hit by a giant whale rolling into a station]

02:41

With our improved understanding of poetic techniques, we'll be much better equipped

02:44

to appreciate the subtleties and beauty of Beowulf.

02:46

Now if you'll excuse us, we're going to try and book a ticket for the Whale Road. [Guy at 'Central Pacific Whaleroad']

02:51

We hear they've been working on it all the live long day. [People with whale heads building the railroad]

Full Transcript