How we cite our quotes: (Page) Vintage Books, 1989
Quote #1
So it goes with me, age by age. (Talking, talking. Spinning a web of words, pale walls of dreams, between myself and all I see.) (8)
From the beginning of his story, we can see that Grendel is already pretty sick of language. Maybe it's the effect of extreme isolation—he's always narrating the story of his life to himself (and to us) and scripting scenes acted out by others. Language here is part of the way Grendel sees and creates the world. He has a solipsistic view of reality: nothing exists outside himself unless he perceives it (or so he thinks). Speaking, then, is a way of using his senses and interacting with a world that otherwise wants nothing to do with him.
Quote #2
Talking, talking, spinning a spell, pale skin of words that closes me in like a coffin. Not in a language that anyone any longer understands. Rushing, degenerate mutter of noises I send out before me wherever I creep, like a dragon burning his way through vines and fog. (15)
The same language that helps Grendel create the world around him also suffocates him. We get the sense of isolation here, too—if Grendel's the only one around to chatter and create a version of reality, that's got to get old after a while. He's also cut off from the world around him because he can't really communicate with the "brute animals," and the humans mostly don't understand a word he's saying. The confusion and anger he feels drag him lower and lower.
Quote #3
She'd forgotten all language long ago, or maybe had never known any. I'd never heard her speak to the other shapes. (How I myself learned to speak I can't remember; it was a long, long time ago.) But I talked on, trying to smash through the walls of her unconsciousness. (28)
Because Mama Grendel can't speak in a recognizable language, Grendel doesn't feel as close to her as he might if she could speak. He despises her idiocy, but worst of all, he can never have the mother-son chat that might give him a clue to their mysterious past.