MB UNIUD

The first stanza has 16 lines: in the first is immediately introduced the central character of the stanza, Beowulf.

He is described as Hygelac's thane: thane is a royal vassal of some importance; Hygelac is Beowulf's uncle and feudal lord.

In the succeeding lines the narrator adds piece of information about this character: the expressions he uses are: "no one else like him alive", "the mightiest man on the earth", "high-born" and "powerful".

It is certainly a positive connotation, the narrator puts Beowulf in an higher position because he is described as better than the other persons in the world.

Moreover the adjective "might" attributes to Beowulf a good-like nature, it means, in fact, "powerful" but also "omnipotent".

There is a climatic constructure: the characterization reaches the climax.

This part of the stanza speaks about hierarchy, which was very important during that period.

After that the narrator says that the character has a plane; this indicate a strategic- way to thinking, so a strategic mentality.

Moreover the narrator tells the reader about the character's reputation: he was a leader, an "enlisting man", he was authoritative (which is a positive adjective) but not authoritarian.

His leadership was based also on the respect, in fact, the narrator says "no elder denied him, dear as he was to them". In that society old people had very important position and this sentence is implies they respected him.

At the end with other 14 warriors he boarded the boat as captain and this sentence underlines, once again, his leadership.

At least, the categories used by the poet to create the characterization are: hierarchy, home-town, reputation, generosity and leadership.

From the point of view of the sound there are frequent alliterations to remember the story.

There is also a kenning, "the swan's road", that indicates the sea.