'Beowulf and Grendel: the fight'
the extract is from the epic poem 'Beowulf' indeed the poem is about the fight of Beowulf against the monster Grendel. the reader can appreciate that it is made up of four stanzas of different line-lenght.
the first one is from line 1 to 8: in this stanza the narrator tells the reader (or since this poem was handed over orally, the listener) of the arrival of Grendel from the moors to the 'sheer keep of fortified gold'. using words like 'mist-bands', 'bane','prey', 'murk' the anonymous narrator creates a dark atmosphere in opposition to 'shone', 'fortified', and 'gold' used for the keep. right from the start the reader can notice the idea of fight between good and evil.
the second stanza goes from line 9 to 24: in this stanza Grendel destroys all he comes across and also attacks Beowulf. Beowulf succeed in grab the monster in his strong handgrip and scare him. once again Beowulf is characterize by his strenght and as no one else on earth. 'in a handgrip harder than anything he had ever encourted in any man on the face of the earth', the uniquness of the hero is underline by the use of comparative and the use of 'any'. in this stanza there is the fight between good and evil too but this time the atmosphere is all dark: there aren't words that riminds to light or triumph..there are only images of fight.
in third stanza (25-36) the reader can read about the lojalty of the worriors for their chief: thay are ready to fight to save 'their lord's life' (and not for the first time, indeed the expression 'time and again' shows that the warrior were always, and will always, help him) even if Grendel can't be demage (the image of invulnerability is highlight by 'no blade', 'no blacksmith's arm' and 'every weapon').
the extract ends with the fourth stanzas that, in opposition with the apparent invulnerability, tells about the victory of Beowulf (good) against grendel (evil). indeed in this sequence all violent and evil words (like 'pain', 'wound', 'fen-banks'..) are used for Grendel and his defeat and the only positive sentence 'Beowulf was grated the glory of winning' refers to the winner, Beowulf. From this sentence the reader can read, ones more, of the importance of the lojalty (Beowulf's worriors give all the honour of the victory to their chief even if they have fought too), the most important value of the Anglo-Saxons.