idk

My girlfriend’s eyes are not bright

Nor are her lips red.

Her breasts are as white as snow

And her hair as black as wires.

I’ve seen imperfect roses in red and white

But not even her cheeks can compare to these.

And even the foulest smelling of perfumes smell better

Than my girlfriend’s breath, which reeks.

I enjoy hearing her talk, although I am aware

That music is more pleasing to the ear.

I admit that I have never seen a goddess walk

But when my girlfriend walks, she treads.

However, I love her despite everything

And I don’t need to lie about her to prove so.

Although he is a knight of the legendary King Arthur and is considered very handsome and diligent, Lanval is not particularly popular and would not be missed if he were to die: “...good land/ and wives to wed, he gave them all/ save for one man, who’d served them well/ Lanval. The King forgot this man/ none put in a good word for him” (16-20). The knights’ and barons’ neutrality towards him quickly turns to dislike when he rejects Queen Guinevere’s advances and admits his lover is more beautiful than her. It isn’t until the end of the poem, when Lanval’s lover reveals herself to everyone, that Lanval regains the respect he lost for disrespecting the queen. In addition, Lanval earns the approval of his fellow knights and the barons, as they realize that he truly has value if the most beautiful woman they’d ever seen has eyes for Lanval and Lanval alone. 

This poem is also a romance in that it ends happily, with Lanval and his lover escaping to Avalon. It can be argued that there is a chilling ambiguity to the final two lines: “More of Lanval no one has heard/ I cannot tell another word” (645-646). The fact that Lanval was never seen again suggests that he died, but given the overall lightheartedness of the poem, it’s more likely that he and his lover are living a peaceful life away from King Arthur and his knights, who’d never cared much for Lanval anyway. Another facet that makes “Lanval” a romance is that it includes, well, romance. In fact, it is the love between Lanval and the lady that causes the poem’s major events to happen, these events being Guinevene chastising Lanval and King Arthur putting him on trial. 

Sad lays were sung about the beset king,

the vicious raids and ravages of Grendel,

his long and unrelenting feud,

nothing but war; how he would never

parley or make peace with any Dane       [155]

nor stop his death-dealing nor pay the death-price.

The main sounds that are repeated in lines 151 and 152 are /s/ and /r/, while /p/ and /d/ are the primary sounds of lines 155 and 156; the word “death” is even said twice. The purpose of alliteration is to add a more dramatic effect to a poem, especially when recited. It is no coincidence, then, that much of Beowulf’s alliteration occurs during the poem’s most suspenseful scenes. By repeating sounds, especially bilabial sounds such as /p/, speakers further increase anticipation.

Beowulf’s lack of end rhymes also makes it Anglo-Saxon. Rarely will one find any rhyming in the modern English translation of Beowulf, end rhyme or otherwise. This is likely due to the fact that it is hard to rhyme in old English, and also because at the time it was being recited, poetry wasn’t prominent enough of an art form for there to be any conventions such as rhyme or metaphor.

That isn’t to say there aren’t metaphoric phrases in Beowulf, however. One will find many instances of kenning throughout the poem, most of which are hyphenated and obvious enough that the average reader will be able to infer what they refer to. Here is an example:

At their heads they placed their polished timber

Battle-shields; and on the bench above them,

Each man’s kit was kept to hand:

A towering war-helmet, webbed mail-shirt    [1245]

And great-shafted spear.

“Battle-shield” obviously refers to the shields the thanes use in battle, while “war-helmet” refers to their helmets and “mail-shirt” to the chainmail they wear.

Beowulf, like many tales of heroism, is brimming with hyperbole. Like alliterative verse, the poem’s hyperbole most frequently occurs during its more climatic passages, such as the one below:

Then his rage boiled over, he ripped open

the mouth of the building, maddening for blood,

pacing the length of the patterned floor    [725]

with his loathsome tread, while a baleful light,

flame more than light, flared from his eyes.

It is impossible for a human being to tear a door from its hinges, let alone shoot fire from their eyes. Grendel, however, is depicted as a monster, which explains his inhuman abilities. This excerpt is exaggerated nonetheless.

Caesura occurs in just about every stanza of Beowulf. This allows the orator to take a breath in between lines.

She had done away with a great warrior,  [1298]

ambushed him at rest.

                                      Beowulf was elsewhere.

Lastly, both the original and modern Beowulf texts utilize four-beat lines. We encounter one early on in the poem:

There was Shield Sheafson, scourge of many tribes,