Week 3, Noah Aigner

In many novels, scenes are lavishly
laid out; giving detail after detail until eventually the reader is bogged down
with words that begin to mean nothing. It takes a great writer to be able to
lay out a scene that the reader can vividly see using only a few words. A good
example of this use of diction is in “Beowulf”. The author is able to use a
limited number of words but in such a way that the entire scene is laid out
before us as readers without bombarding us with a barrage of details.

I find
the best examples of this method of writing in the attacks of the monster
Grendel. The author knew that there were insignificant details that could be
left out of these sections and still be able to get the picture across. For
example, when Grendel comes in the night to feast on the nobles he is “creating
havoc: greedy and grim”. (Line 121-122) The word havoc can tell a reader much
more about the scene than an entire line can. It tells the reader of the
atmosphere created by the monster and how it is such a terrible happening, while
greedy and grim clearly explain the mood of Grendel. The author could have used
an entire paragraph to explain every occurrence of the attack but was able to
use creative diction to easily get across the point using a few choice words.
An important method that the author used to succeed in word choice was the
choice of narrator. If the narrator had been either Beowulf or Grendel the view
and opinions given to the reader would have been greatly limited. But with the
narrator as the omniscient viewer he is not limited to a single way to see the
happenings in this story. “The monster
back-tracking, the man overpowering. The dread of the land was desperate to
escape, to take a roundabout road and flee to his lair in the fens.” (Line
760-764) Had this passage merely been from one of the combatants’ point of view
there would of course be some special input as to how they were feeling, but in
this situation those details are unnecessary, and so the existing narrator is
able to give a sufficient view of the encounter and the intentions of the beast
all in one fell swoop.

Though
it doesn’t always rise to the top as a significant part of literature, the use
of diction plays a significant role in writing. When properly used, a paragraph
explaining, in great detail, the hellish attack on a home can easily be
translated into but a few words which are able to give almost exactly the same
experience to the reader.