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Epic poetry |
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An epic poem is a long poem narrating the heroic exploits
of an individual in a way central to the beliefs and culture
of his society. Typical elements are fabulous adventures,
superhuman deeds, polyphonic composition, majestic language
and a craftsmanship deploying the full range of literary devices,
from lyrical to dramatic.
Nonetheless, the first epics —Iliad,
Odyssey,
Mahabharata,
Ramayana
— were created and transmitted orally, a tradition still
seen in Serbian guslars and storytellers throughout Asia.
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Epic poetry: traditions |
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Being
so demanding,
epic poetry is counted among man's noblest creations.
Gilgamesh,
Mahabharata, Ramayana, Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, Beowulf,
Poema
de mio Cid, La
Chanson de Roland, Divine Comedy,
Jerusalem Delivered, Orlando
Furiosa, os
Lusíadas, Faerie Queen, and Paradise
Lost are still read with admiration and enthusiasm.
Some long poems are better called mock heroic or satire
— The
Rape of Lock,
Don
Juan, — and others are magnificent
failures: Prelude, Hyperion, Idylls of the King,
Cantos,
There
is also the pastoral
tradition, from Theocritus through Virgil
to Milton
and others, but the setting is an idealised landscape and
the heroic element is missing.
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Epic poetry today |
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With
different objectives, epic poetry continues to be written
by a few individuals: Ruth
Mabanglo, and Frederick
Turner. Some aspects also appear in proponents of expansive
poetry and the long poem — broad perspectives, significant
non-confessional content, strong narrative and dramatic elements.
Readers may also like to see the various approaches to extended
poems that feature in the work of Walt
Whitman, Nikos Kazantzakis, St.-John
Perse, William Carlos Williams, Robert
Pinsky, Ed Dorn, Amy Clampit, Adrienne
Rich, James
Merril, Galway
Kinnel, Judy
Grahn, Derek
Walcott and Sharon Doubiago. |
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Further reading |
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Excellent
places to start are hyperepos,
and the Epic section of The Princeton Encyclopedia
of Poetry and Poetics (1993), which has a short bibliography.
Helpful introductions include: P. Ker's Epic and Romance
(1908), W.M. Dixon's English Epic and Heroic Poetry
(1912), C.M. Bowra's From Virgil to Milton (1952),
G. Highet's The Classical Tradition (1948), A.C.
Yu's Parnassus Revisited (1973), A.T. Hatto's Traditions
of Heroic and Epic Poetry (1980), J.P. McWilliams's
The American Epic (1989) and J.B. Hainsworth's The
Idea of Epic (1991).
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