Textuality » 3A Interacting
I am going to analyse the second part of the extract of Beowulf's epic poem.
In this extract the narrator describes the departure and then the voyage of Beowulf's group. From line 17th to line 23rd they are described the preparations of the ship and of the crew. The narration of this part of the poem makes in the reader's mind a fast imagine of the actions which the warriors have to do to sail. This happens thanks to a combination of more short sentences.
The phrase Time went by means that while time passed Beowulf and his men had to prepare the gear to face a voyage and a monster.
With the expression away with a will the reader can understand that Beowulf and the other men knew very well their task: they had to fight with a monster.
In the following lines it is described the crew's voyage and the arrival to the place where they will fight.
Between the 24th and the 25th line there is a run on line, thanks this syntactical structure the narrations takes speed to symbolize the quickness of the voyage. In these lines it is described the favourable conditions which make speedy the voyage: with the wind behind. In the line that comes after this one, the narrator compares the voyage to a bird's fly: she flew like a bird. It means that the ship was very fast and the sea conditions were favourable for a sail.
Two lines after this one it is said: at the due hour, those seafarers sighted land. This means Beowulf and the other men were also good seafarers beyond good warriors because only expert sea men can sail without problems.
In the next lines it is also said: sunlit cliffs, sheer crags and looming headlands; the reader can hypothesize that it will not be a simple landing and a simple fight, but soon after it is written the landfall they sought. So it isn't a problem if there are cliffs, crags or headlands.
In the last five lines I am going to analyse it is said that the voyage is ended and that they thanked God for the easy sailing. But the relevant think which is written is that there was a crash of mail and a thresh of gear. Reading these phrases the reader can understand that they weren't alone to face the monster, because the clash of mail and the thresh of gear is only the noise of warriors.