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Epic poetry
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Everything about Epic Poetry totally explainedAn epic is a lengthy, revered narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. A work need not be written to qualify as an epic, although even the works of such great poets as Homer, Dante Alighieri, and John Milton would be unlikely to have survived without being written down. The first epics are known as primary, or original, epics. Epics that attempt to imitate these like Virgil's The Aeneid and John Milton's Paradise Lost are known as literary, or secondary, epics.
Another word for epic poetry is (plural: epyllia) which is a brief narrative poem with a romantic or mythological theme. The term, which means 'little ', came in use in the Nineteenth century. It refers primarily to the type of erotic and mythological long elegy of which Ovid remains the master; to a lesser degree, the term includes some poems of the English Renaissance, particularly those influenced by Ovid. One suggested example of classical epyllion may be seen in the story of Nisus and Euryalus in Book IX of The Aeneid.
Oral epics or world folk epics
The first epics were products of preliterate societies and oral poetic traditions. In these traditions, poetry is transmitted to the audience and from performer to performer by purely oral means.
Early twentieth-century studies of living oral epic traditions in the Balkans by Milman Parry and Albert Lord demonstrated the paratactic model used for composing these poems. What they demonstrated was that oral epics tend to be constructed in short episodes, each of equal status, interest and importance. This facilitates memorization, as the poet is recalling each episode in turn and using the completed episodes to recreate the entire epic as he performs it.
Parry and Lord also showed that the most likely source for written texts of the epics of Homer was dictation from an oral performance.
Epic: a long narrative poem in elevated stature presenting characters of high position in adventures forming an organic whole through their relation to a central heroic figure and through their development of episodes important to the history of a nation or race.
Epics have 6 main characteristics:
- The hero is of imposing stature, of national or international importance, and of great historical or legendary significance.
- The setting is vast, covering many nations, the world, or the universe.
- The action consists of deeds of great valor or requiring superhuman courage.
- Supernatural forces—gods, angels, demons—insert themselves in the action.
- A style of sustained elevation is used.
- The poet retains a measure of objectivity.
The hero generally participates in a cyclical journey or quest, faces adversaries that try to defeat him in his journey, and returns home significantly transformed by his journey. The epic hero illustrates traits, performs deeds, and exemplifies certain morals that are valued by the society from which the epic originates. Many epic heroes are recurring characters in the legends of their native culture.
Conventions of Epics:
Praepositio: Opens by stating the theme or cause of the epic. This may take the form of a purpose (as in Milton, who proposed "to justify the ways of God to men"); of a question (as in the Iliad, where Homer asks the Muse which god it was who caused the war); or of a situation (as in the Song of Roland, with Charlemagne in Spain).
Invocation: Writer invokes a Muse, one of the nine daughters of Zeus. The poet prays to the Muses to provide him with divine inspiration to tell the story of a great hero. (This convention is obviously restricted to cultures which were influenced by Classical culture: the Epic of Gilgamesh, for example, or the Bhagavata Purana would obviously not contain this element)
In medias res: narrative opens "in the middle of things", with the hero at his lowest point. Usually flashbacks show earlier portions of the story.
Enumeratio: Catalogues and genealogies are given. These long lists of objects, places, and people place the finite action of the epic within a broader, universal context. Often, the poet is also paying homage to the ancestors of audience members.
Epithet: Heavy use of repetition or stock phrases: for example, Homer's "rosy-fingered dawn" and "wine-dark sea."
Literate societies have often copied the epic format; the earliest European examples of which the text survives are the Argonautica of Apollonius of Rhodes and Virgil's Aeneid, which follow both the style and subject matter of Homer. Other obvious examples are Nonnus' Dionysiaca, Tulsidas' Sri Ramacharit Manas.
Notable epic poems » This list can be compared with two others, national epic and list of world folk-epics.
Ancient epics (to 500)
20th to 18th century BC:
8th to 6th century BC:
- Enuma Elish (Babylonian mythology)
- Iliad, ascribed to Homer (Greek mythology)
- Odyssey, ascribed to Homer (Greek mythology)
- Works and Days, ascribed to Hesiod (Greek mythology)
- Jaya, ascribed to Vyasa (Hindu mythology)
- Lost Greek epics ascribed to the Cyclic poets:
- Epic Cycle including Cypria, Aethiopis, Little Iliad, Sack of Troy, Return from Troy, Telegony
- Theban Cycle including Oedipodea, Thebaid, Epigoni (epic), Alcmeonis
- Others: Titanomachy, Heracleia, Capture of Oechalia, Naupactia, Phocais, Minyas, Danais'
- 7th to 5th century BC:
- 5th to 4th century BC:
- 3rd century BC:
- 2nd century BC:
- 1st century BC:
- 1st century AD:
- 2nd century:
- 2nd to 5th century:
Medieval epics (500-1500)
8th to 10th century:
9th century:
10th century:
11th century:
12th century:
13th century:
14th century:
15th century:
Modern epics (from 1500)
16th century:
17th century:
18th century:
19th century:
20th century:
Other epics
The Anathemata by David Jones (1952)
Canto general by Pablo Neruda
The Waste Land and Four Quartets by T. S. Eliot
Der Ring des Nibelungen by Richard Wagner (opera)
Parsifal by Richard Wagner (opera)
Fredy Neptune: A Novel in Verse by Les MurrayFurther Information
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