“Beowulf” is a well-known Epic poem. There is one scene that I absolutely love to read each time I read it, which this makes time number four. Unferth is who you could call the king’s right hand man. When Beowulf arrives to Heorot, Unferth attempts to degrade him. Unferth only has one thing on Beowulf: the fight between Beowulf and Breca. Beowulf lost the fight and Unferth felt the need to say that Beowulf wasn’t as high and mighty as everyone claimed he was. Beowulf explained what happened during the fight and then he goes on to pick a bone with Unferth. The passage reads, “Now I cannot recall any fight you entered, Unferth, that bears comparison. I don’t boast when I say that neither you nor Breca were ever much celebrated for swordsmanship or for facing danger on the field of battle. You killed your own kith and kin, so for all your cleverness and quick tongue, you will suffer damnation in the depth of hell. The fact is, Unferth if you were truly as keen or courageous as you claim to be Grendel would never have got away with such unchecked atrocity, attacks on your kind, havoc in Heorot and horrors everywhere. But he knows he need never be in dread of your blade making a mizzle of his blood or of vengeance arriving ever from this quarter- for the Victory-Shieldings, the shoulderers of the spear” (582-598). This passage has a very sarcastic tone to it. Beowulf starts out by saying that Unferth has no great deeds. He hasn’t done anything noteworthy. It is also ironic when Beowulf says that he isn’t boasting, because he actually is. Beowulf calls Unferth and Breca cowards because they have never done something that has been celebrated. There is an alliteration in line 587 that reads, “You killed your own kith and kin,”. I consider line 589 to be interpolation. The line reads, “You will suffer damnation in the depths of hell.” Beowulf tells Unferth that he will burn in hell for trying to dirty his name. Then, Beowulf tells Unferth that if he was as brave and courageous as he claimed to be then there would be no need for him to kill Grendel. If Unferth wasn’t such a coward then Beowulf wouldn’t have to clean up his mess. Beowulf turns this into a blame game. He blames Unferth for Grendel still being around. Beowulf goes on to say that Grendel knows that Unferth is not a threat. Grendel knows that Unferth does not have what it takes to kill him. Line 598 contains a kenning that reads, “Victory-Shieldings, the shoulderers of the spear”. This is another way for Beowulf to make a reference to an army. In this passage Beowulf pretty much says that Unferth doesn’t compare to him and that he should just sit back and watch him do the job that he was supposed to have done a long time ago.
I just recently finished "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak. I had no idea what this novel was going to be about going into it; all I knew was that our 10th grade English class study it. Right off the bat I noticed that our narrator was not your average Joe. The narrator is death. When I realized this I said to myself, "Oh this is going to be good." The novel is all about the Holocaust and it is shown from a German point of view. Leisel Meminger's mother gives her away to a foster German family. On the trip to this new family, Leisel's brother dies. So right from the start death is there. I'm not going to give you a synopsis of it, because I think you should read it for yourself. Just know that a German family hides a Jew in their basement for a while, and death is around every corner. That last line of the novel really got me though..."I am haunted by humans."
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