6.4k views
3 votes
Which parts of this passage contain a biblical allusion?

So lived the clansmen in cheer and revel
a winsome life, till one began
to fashion evils, that field of hell.
Grendel this monster grim was called,
march-riever mighty, in moorland living,
in fen and fastness; fief of the giants
the hapless wight a while had kept
since the Creator his exile doomed.
On kin of Cain was the killing avenged
by sovran God for slaughtered Abel.
Ill fared his feud, and far was he driven,
for the slaughter’s sake,
from sight of men. Of Cain awoke all that woful breed,
Etins and elves and evil-spirits,?

2 Answers

7 votes
"On kin of Cain was the killing avenged
by sovran God for slaughtered Abel."

This, of course, refers to Cain and Abel from the Bible. According to the Bible, they were two sons of Adam and Eve. Cain killed his own brother, Abel, and thus further cursed the mankind.
User Harry J
by
7.2k points
6 votes

1 "On kin of Cain was the killing avenged

by sovran God for slaughtered Abel."

2 from sight of men. Of Cain awoke all that woful breed,

User Daniel Zohar
by
6.7k points