|
Post by Sparrow on Sept 16, 2004 20:04:58 GMT -6
In the eighth paragraph of this chapter, the narrator refers to the Lonely Mountain as “the distant dragon-mountain.” Is this a kenning? Where are kennings commonly found? What other literary/poetic device(s) do you notice in this sentence and paragraph?
|
|
|
Post by jerseyshore on Sept 26, 2004 13:04:03 GMT -6
A kenning is a picturesque metaphorical compound found frequently in Old English and Germanic writing according to me Handbook to Literature. Examples from Beowulf include "sea-wood" for a ship, "whale-road" for the sea, and "twilight-spoiler" for a dragon. "Dragon- mountain" would probably qualify as a kenning. I can't identify any other figurative language in that paragraph, but I did find these lines very poetic: "...in the great days of old, when Dale in the North was rich and prosperous, they had been wealthy and powerful, and there had been fleets of boats on the waters, and some were filled with gold and some with warriors in armour, and there had been wars and deeds which were now only a legend." In reading this chapter another line struck me. Bilbo thinks, "All he knew was that the river seemed to go on and on and on for ever..." I thought it was the road that went ever on and on.
|
|