Week 12 Reading Notes B: Beowulf

Image result for dragon
(Dragon Face from PublicDomainPictures)



For these reading notes I chose to focus on the dragon's characteristics as a monster to potentially use in some of my stories. I really enjoyed the description of the dragon, as it gave me a good feel for how the creature was meant to look. Below I've listed the description of the dragon and marked specific parts of it.


"Over ten ells in length it measured from the proud head to the poisoned tail-tip, and its vast body was covered with scales of brass as big as plates and thicker, each, than three fingers*. Its forefeet were armed with six-inch claws of razor edge and helped support a head so large and terrible that Beowulf marveled for a moment at the size. Its eyes were of green fire, its wide nostrils belched red flame and steam*, and the immense jaws dripped livid ooze as they snapped in hideous savagery*. So great was the issuing heat that Beowulf held up his shield, else he would have perished upon the spot."



All three of the marked parts were so vividly described for me that I felt as though I could actually see the dragon if I were to close my eyes. It even made my skin crawl a little bit. I chose to do this section because it actually made my skin crawl a bit, and to think that Beowulf actually faced a creature this massive and insane in this story had me marveling. So I chose to focus in on this so that I could hopefully glean some insight as to better descriptive writing.

Bibliography:

  • Strafford Riggs, The Story of Beowulf, from UnTextbook

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