Kenning

Kenning

Definition:

Kenning - a compound expression in Old English and Old Norse poetry with metaphorical meaning

Example - Beowulf:

"Across the whale's way" (Beowulf, 10).

     Whale's way = Ocean

"No battle-blade could do it damage" (Beowulf, 1149). 

     Battle-blade = Sword

"Break open her bone-chamber" (Beowulf, 1216). 

     Bone-chamber = Skin

Function: 

Kennings are a type of metaphor and are used often throughout Beowulf. They describe something using characteristics or qualities. Kennings can be used to invoke thought in the reader or to give something a new name. It can provide a new or different meaning for a common word. These kennings are seen throughout Beowulf and they work to create imagery. As a person is reading Beowulf, when he/she comes upon these things, it can cause them to pause for a moment and think about what the author is really saying. Instead of just saying "ocean" and imagining the vast blue water, maybe now a person sees the water as well as the fish and other creatures (such as the whales) that live in it. 

Another Example: 

There is a singer everyone has heard, 

Loud, a mid-summer and a mid-wood bird,

Who makes the solid tree trunks sound again.

He says that leaves are old and that for flowers

Mid-summer is to spring as one to ten.

He says the early petal-fall is past

When pear and cherry bloom went down in showers

On sunny days a moment overcast... 

The Oven Bird by Robert Frost

Original Mnemonic:
Keep
Every
Noun
Noticed (by)
Indirectly
Needing (a)
General description