Name __________________________ Period __________________ The poetic sound of Beowulf Date The text below is an example of Burton Raffel’s (the translator) attempt to include a caesura in his version of Beowulf. According to convention, one of the accented syllables after the caesura has to alliterate with at least one of the accented syllables in the first half of the line. 1. Mark the accented syllables 2. Mark the caesura, a break in the line. 3. Underline the appropriate letter in a stressed symbol showing alliteration before and after the caesura. NOTE: Alliteration is the repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables of a phrase. A path for his evil soul, but their points Could not hurt him, the sharpest and hardest iron Could not scratch at his skin, for that sin-stained demon Had bewitched all men’s weapons, laid spells That blunted every mortal man’s blade.