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Metaphor
Explanation and Analysis—Brachiating Poet:
At the beginning of Chapter 8, Grendel takes up his own epic and heroic style, emulating the Shaper. Here, he introduces himself as the bard for this new phase of his story. In the chapter's brief prefatory poem, Grendel uses a metaphor to describe himself as a terrible beast who has taken up language:
(Thus poor Grendel,
anger’s child,
red eyes hidden in the dark of verbs,
brachiating with a hoot from rhyme to rhyme.)
Before he begins his poem, Grendel feels the need to clarify his position to the reader. He calls himself "anger's child," a poetic way to describe himself as a violent monster fueled by uncontrollable moments of murderous anger. But his anger, as represented by his "red eyes," are now "hidden in the dark of verbs." This metaphor depicts Grendel's violent nature as being obscured by his new use of language like the Shaper. He is also "brachiating"—that is, swinging like an ape—"with a hoot from vine to vine." Similarly to the previous line, he describes himself as a hollering ape that swings through poetry rather than a jungle. Here again Grendel describes himself as an animalistic beast who has adapted to the use of language. Put together, these metaphors are Grendel's tongue-in-cheek, self-aware and self-deprecating introduction of himself, newly turned into a poet.
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