What important theme of realism is reflected in these lines from “Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman? And as to you Corpse I think you are good manure, but that does not offend me, I smell the white roses sweet-scented and growing, I reach to the leafy lips, I reach to the polish'd breasts of melons. A. the beauty of nature and human life B. the beautiful and harsh realities of life C. the harsh realities of a cruel world D. the mystery of the food chain in nature

its passive

active

passive

active

to entertain

to record

the right answer is b

beowulf is filled with alliterations, caesuras, and kennings intended both to give the epic a musical, rhythmic quality and to assist the bard performing the epic in remembering the lines. just as the lyrics to our favorite songs are easier to remember than a context-free list of names or census data, poetic devices like those listed above stick in the bard's mind.

it is not known if beowulf was chanted, sung, or recited more like a modern day poem, but the poetic devices evident in the epic almost certainly had their origin in memorization and oral recitation.