Juxtaposition and Beowuof

Juxtaposition is when an author puts two very different things close together in the text to highlight their differences and bring them out in the text more. In Beowulf the author uses juxtaposition very often, using the literary device for many purposes. In line 72 the author says "young and old." By putting these two words close together we get the feel that he's talking about everybody. By using young and old instead of just saying everyone we literally picture the young and old together, helping us to better picture the scene which the author is trying to convey. Besides simple two worded juxtapositions like this, the author also uses longer instances of it in the text. He does a lot of talking about great banquets and victories followed immediately by slaughters and devastation. He mentions the feasts and happiness in the dining hall and then talks about Grendel wreaking havoc. He seems to go between the celebrations and mournings several times in a few pages. By doing this he highlights the difference between them. The celebrations seem more joyous and the attacks seem far more devastating. This reminded me one one of my favorite country songs helluva life. The chorus would go "bad times make the good times better, it's a helluva life." I found this statement very true, and think about it whenever I'm experiencing a bad time. After all, what are the ups without the downs? There's no such thing as up without down.