Poetry Response

In the epic, Gilgamesh – The Death of Humbaba, retold by Herbert Mason, the speaker creates the mood to show the emotional equality, or atmosphere of the work. A number of things contribute to creating mood, such as the speaker’s choice of language, subject matter, setting, and tone, as well as such sound devices as rhyme, rhythm, and meter. In this work, the speaker changes the mood to reflect his attitude toward the subject.
In the beginning of the epic, the overall mood is one of violence and danger. The speaker carefully chooses descriptive words and images to suggest this mood. The speaker describes Gilgamesh’s fear as he hears Humbaba’s footsteps and sees the “great head of Humbaba / Like a water buffalo’s bellowing down the path.” The reader can feel Gilgamesh’s horror when he sees Humbaba “strike the back of Enkidu (Gilgamesh’s friend) and beat him to the ground.” Also, the reader can feel the disgust of Gilgamesh when he hears Humbaba “… p...