Epic

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Introduction; Folk Epics; Literary Epics; The Mock Epic

Introduction

Epic, long narrative poem, majestic both in theme and style. Epics deal with legendary or historical events of national or universal significance, involving action of broad sweep and grandeur. Most epics deal with the exploits of a single individual, thereby giving unity to the composition. Typically, an epic includes several features: the introduction of supernatural forces that shape the action; conflict in the form of battles or other physical combat; and stylistic conventions such as an invocation to the Muse, a formal statement of the theme, long lists of the protagonists involved, and set speeches couched in elevated language. Commonplace details of everyday life may appear, but they serve as background for the story and are described in the same lofty style as the rest of the poem.

The Greeks distinguished epic from lyric poetry, both by its nature and its manner of delivery; lyric poetry expressed more personal emotion than epic poetry and was sung, whereas epic poetry was recited (see Lyric).

Epic poems are not merely entertaining stories of legendary or historical heroes; they summarize and express the nature or ideals of an entire nation at a significant or crucial period of its history. Examples include the ancient Greek epics by the poet Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey. The characteristics of the hero of an epic are national rather than individual, and the exercise of those traits in heroic deeds serves to gratify a sense of national pride. At other times epics may synthesize the ideals of a great religious or cultural movement. The Divine Comedy (1307-1321) by the Italian poet Dante Alighieri expresses the faith of medieval Christianity. The Faerie Queene (Books I-III, 1590; Books IV-VI, 1596) by the English poet Edmund Spenser represents the spirit of the Renaissance in England and like Paradise Lost (1667) by the English poet John Milton, represents the ideals of Christian humanism.

Folk Epics

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Epic verse may be classified either as folk or as literary epic. Folk, or popular, epics are believed to have developed from the orally transmitted folk poetry of tribal bards or other authors; they were eventually transcribed by anonymous poets. Well-known examples of the folk epic are the Anglo-Saxon Beowulf (written sometime between the 8th century and the late 10th century), the German Nibelungenlied (Song of the Nibelungs, 13th century), and the Indian epics the Mahabharata (The Great Epic of the Bharata Dynasty, 400 bc- ad 400) and the Ramayana (Way of Rama, 3rd century bc). The story material appearing in folk epics is usually based on legends or events that occurred a long time before the epic itself appeared. The characters and episodes that appear in many folk epics had, in several cases, been treated in folk songs before the epic was composed. Examples of this consolidation of material are the French folk epics known as chansons de geste, or songs of heroic deeds, composed from the end of the 10th century to the middle or end of the 11th century, the most famous of which is the Chanson de Roland (The Song of Roland, 1100?).

Literary Epics

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Literary, or art, epics are the creation of known poets who consciously employ a long-established form. Like folk epics, literary epics deal with the traditions, mythical or historical, of a nation. The Iliad and the Odyssey are regarded as literary epics. In Rome, national epic poetry reached its highest achievement in the 1st century bc in the Aeneid, one of the world's greatest literary epics, by the poet Virgil. In Persia the poet Firdawsi, drawing upon historical sources, composed the Persian national epic Shāh-Nāmah (Book of Kings, 1010). The great literary epics of postclassical Europe include The Lusiads (1572; translated 1655), the national epic of Portugal by Luís (Vaz) de Camões; the Italian Orlando furioso (Mad Roland, first version 1516; final version 1532) by Lodovico Ariosto, and Rinaldo (1562) and Jerusalem Delivered (1581; translated 1600) by Torquato Tasso; as well as The Faerie Queene and Paradise Lost.

In the 19th century the epic assumed various forms. In the lengthy and much revised autobiographical poem The Prelude (1850), the English poet William Wordsworth used the events of his life to explore the power of the human imagination. With Don Juan (1818-1824) the English poet Lord Byron revived the ottava rima (see Versification) seriocomic epics of the Italian Renaissance (14th century to 17th century), using a breezy style that incorporated social commentary into the poem. Song of Myself (first version 1855; final version 1892) by the American poet Walt Whitman is a brief epic, the first-person narrator of which identifies himself with all of nature and humanity.

Twentieth-century English epics include The Dynasts (1903-1908), a long verse-drama by the poet Thomas Hardy. In the United States, such 20th-century poets as Hart Crane (The Bridge,1930), T.S. Eliot (Four Quartets,1943), Ezra Pound (The Cantos,1930-1970), William Carlos Williams (Paterson,1946-1958), and James Merrill (The Changing Light at Sandover,1976-1982) attempted to provide the nation with a national epic.

The Mock Epic

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A type of epic derived from the serious epic is the mock epic, which satirizes contemporary ideas or conditions in a form and style burlesquing the serious epic. Noted mock epics include The Rape of the Lock (1712) by the English poet Alexander Pope. Several novels also fall into this category, including Joseph Andrews (1742), described by its author, the English novelist Henry Fielding, as “a comic epic ... in prose.”

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Introduction

Folk Epics

Literary Epics

The Mock Epic