Epic Poem

An Epic Poem is a lengthy narrative poem that contains epic story (which contains extraordinary heroic events).

• Context:
  • It can (typically) represent a long memory about people and events that explain the morals of a society.
  • It can (typically) involve Heroic Characters and Divine Beings.
  • It can (typically) employ Elevated Language and Poetic Devices.
  • ...
  • It can range from being an Ancient Epic Poem to being a Modern Epic Poem, depending on historical period.
  • It can range from being a Mythological Epic to being a Historical Epic, depending on subject matter.
  • It can range from being a Religious Epic to being a Secular Epic, depending on thematic focus.
  • ...
  • It can serve as a Cultural Foundation for societies.
  • It can preserve Historical Memory and Cultural Values.
  • It can utilize Epic Conventions like Epic Similes and Invocations.
  • ...
• Example(s):
  • Ancient Epic Poems, such as:
    • The Epic of Gilgamesh, featuring the earliest known epic hero.
    • The Iliad, depicting the Trojan War.
    • The Odyssey, chronicling Odysseus's journey.
    • The Mahabharata, exploring dharma and duty.
  • Classical Epic Poems, such as:
    • The Argonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes, telling of Jason's quest.
    • The Aeneid (~19 BCE) by Virgil, founding the Roman epic.
    • Metamorphoses (~8 AD) by Ovid, compiling mythological transformations.
  • Medieval Epic Poems, such as:
    • Beowulf (~8th-11th century CE), presenting Germanic heroic ideals.
    • The Shahnameh (~1010) by Firdawsi, preserving Persian legends.
    • The Nibelungenlied (13th century), telling Germanic sagas.
    • The Song of Roland (11th-12th century), depicting Frankish chivalry.
  • Renaissance and Modern Epic Poems, such as:
    • The Divine Comedy (1320) by Dante Alighieri, exploring Christian cosmos.
    • The Lusiads (~1572) by Luis de Camoëns, celebrating Portuguese exploration.
    • The Faerie Queene (~1590) by Edmund Spenser, allegorizing Tudor virtues.
    • Paradise Lost (1667) by John Milton, retelling Biblical creation.
    • The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (~1793) by William Blake, reimagining epic form.
    • The Waste Land (1922) by T. S. Eliot, modernizing epic tradition.
    • The Cantos by Ezra Pound, experimenting with epic structure.
  • ...
• Counter-Example(s):
  • Short Poems, which lack epic scope and length.
  • Sonnets, which follow strict formal constraints.
  • Lyric Poems, which express personal emotions.
  • Ballads, which tell shorter narrative tales.
  • Haikus, which capture moment-specific imagery.
• See: Religious Text, Epic Genre, Narrative Poetry, Heroic Poetry, Classical Literature, Oral Tradition, Epic Cycle, National Epic.

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References

2021

• (Wikipedia, 2021) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_poetry Retrieved:2021-6-2.
  • An epic poem is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily involving a time beyond living memory in which occurred the extraordinary doings of the extraordinary men and women who, in dealings with the gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants, the poet and their audience, to understand themselves as a people or nation.

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