Anepic is a lengthynarrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings withgods or othersuperhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants.[1]
With regard tooral tradition, epic poems consist of formal speech and are usually learnt word for word, and are contrasted withnarratives that consist ofeveryday speech where the performer has the license to recontextualize the story to a particular audience, often to a younger generation.[2]
The English wordepic comes fromLatinepicus, which itself comes from theAncient Greek adjectiveἐπικός (epikos), fromἔπος (epos),[3]"word, story, poem."[4]
Inancient Greek, 'epic' could refer to all poetry indactylic hexameter (epea), which included not onlyHomer but also the wisdom poetry ofHesiod, the utterances of theDelphic oracle, and the strange theological verses attributed toOrpheus. Later tradition, however, has restricted the term 'epic' toheroic epic, as described in this article.
Originating before the invention of writing, primary epics, such as those ofHomer, were composed by bards who used complex rhetorical and metrical schemes by which they could memorize the epic as received in tradition and add to the epic in their performances. Later writers likeVirgil,Apollonius of Rhodes,Dante,Camões, andMilton adopted and adapted Homer'sstyle and subject matter, but used devices available only to those who write.
The longest written epic from antiquity is the ancient IndianMahabharata (c. 3rd century BC–3rd century AD),[6] which consists of 100,000ślokas or over 200,000 verse lines (each shloka is a couplet), as well as long prose passages, so that at ~1.8 million words it is roughly twice the length ofShahnameh, four times the length of theRāmāyaṇa, and roughly ten times the length of theIliad and theOdyssey combined.[7][8][9]
The first epics were products ofpreliterate societies andoral history poetic traditions.[citation needed]Oral tradition was used alongside written scriptures to communicate and facilitate the spread of culture.[11]In these traditions, poetry is transmitted to the audience and from performer to performer by purely oral means. Early 20th-century study of living oral epic traditions in theBalkans byMilman Parry andAlbert Lord demonstrated theparatactic 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 contend that the most likely source for written texts of the epics ofHomer was dictation from an oral performance.
Milman Parry andAlbert Lord have argued that the Homeric epics, the earliest works of Western literature, were fundamentally an oral poetic form. These works form the basis of the epic genre in Western literature. Nearly all of Western epic (including Virgil'sAeneid and Dante'sDivine Comedy) self-consciously presents itself as a continuation of the tradition begun by these poems.
In his workPoetics, Aristotle defines an epic as one of the forms of poetry, contrasted withlyric poetry and drama (in the form of tragedy and comedy).[12]
Epic poetry agrees with Tragedy in so far as it is an imitation in verse of characters of a higher type. They differ in that Epic poetry admits but one kind of meter and is narrative in form. They differ, again, in their length: for Tragedy endeavors, as far as possible, to confine itself to a single revolution of the sun, or but slightly to exceed this limit, whereas the Epic action has no limits of time. This, then, is a second point of difference; though at first the same freedom was admitted in Tragedy as in Epic poetry.
Of their constituent parts some are common to both, some peculiar to Tragedy: whoever, therefore knows what is good or bad Tragedy, knows also about Epic poetry. All the elements of an Epic poem are found in Tragedy, but the elements of a Tragedy are not all found in the Epic poem. – Aristotle,Poetics Part V
Harmon & Holman (1999) define an epic:
Epic
A long narrative poem in elevated style 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.
Features heroes that embody the values of the civilization.
Often features the tragic hero's descent into theunderworld orhell.
The hero generally participates in a cyclical journey or quest, faces adversaries that try to defeat them in their journey, and returns home significantly transformed by their journey. The epic hero illustrates traits, performs deeds, and exemplifies certain morals that are valued by the society the epic originates from. Many epic heroes arerecurring characters in the legends of their native cultures.
In the Indianmahākāvya epic genre, more emphasis was laid on description than on narration. Indeed, the traditional characteristics of amahākāvya are listed as:[a][b]
It must take its subject matter from the epics (Ramayana orMahabharata), or from history,
It must help further the four goals of man (purusharthas),
It must contain descriptions of cities, seas, mountains, moonrise and sunrise, and accounts of merrymaking in gardens, of bathing parties, drinking bouts, and love-making.
It should tell the sorrow of separated lovers and should describe a wedding and the birth of a son.
It should describe a king's council, an embassy, the marching forth of an army, a battle, and the victory of a hero.[16]
Classical epic poetry recounts a journey, either physical (as typified by Odysseus in theOdyssey) or mental (as typified by Achilles in theIliad) or both.[17] Epics also tend to highlight cultural norms and to define or call into question cultural values, particularly as they pertain toheroism.[17]
In theproem or preface, the poet may begin by invoking aMuse or similar divinity. The poet prays to the Muses to provide them with divine inspiration to tell the story of a great hero.[18]
Example opening lines with invocations:
Sing goddess the baneful wrath of Achilles son of Peleus –Iliad 1.1
Muse, tell me in verse of the man of many wiles –Odyssey 1.1
From the Heliconian Muses let us begin to sing –Hesiod,Theogony 1.1
Beginning with thee, OhPhoebus, I will recount the famous deeds of men of old –Argonautica 1.1
These conventions are largely restricted to European classical culture and its imitators. TheEpic of Gilgamesh, for example, or theBhagavata Purana do not contain such elements, nor do early medieval Western epics that are not strongly shaped by the classical traditions, such as theChanson de Roland or thePoem of the Cid.
Narrative opens "in the middle of things", with the hero at his lowest point. Usually flashbacks show earlier portions of the story. For example, theIliad does not tell the entire story of the Trojan War, starting with thejudgment of Paris, but instead opens abruptly on the rage of Achilles and its immediate causes. So too,Orlando Furioso is not a complete biography of Roland, but picks up from the plot ofOrlando Innamorato, which in turn presupposes a knowledge of theromance andoral traditions.
Epic catalogues and genealogies are given, calledenumeratio. These long lists of objects, places, and people place the finite action of the epic within a broader, universal context, such as thecatalog of ships. Often, the poet is also paying homage to the ancestors of audience members. Examples:
Many verse forms have been used in epic poems through the ages, but each language's literature typically gravitates to one form, or at least to a very limited set.
Ancient Sumerian epic poems did not use any kind ofpoetic meter andlines did not have consistent lengths;[23]instead, Sumerian poems derived their rhythm solely through constantrepetition andparallelism, with subtle variations between lines.[23]Indo-European epic poetry, by contrast, usually places strong emphasis on the importance of line consistency and poetic meter.[23] Ancient Greek epics were composed in dactylichexameter.[24]Very early Latin epicists, suchLivius Andronicus andGnaeus Naevius, usedSaturnian meter. By the time ofEnnius, however, Latin poets had adopteddactylic hexameter.
Dactylic hexameter has been adapted by a few anglophone poets such asLongfellow in "Evangeline", whose first line is as follows:
This is the | forest pri | meval. The | murmuring | pines and the | hemlocks
Old English, German and Norse poems were written inalliterative verse,[25]usually withoutrhyme. The alliterative form can be seen in the Old English "Finnsburg Fragment" (alliterated sounds are in bold):
Ac onwacnigeað nū,wīgend mīne[26] ealraǣresteorðbūendra,[27]
Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita (A) mi ritrovai per una selva oscura (B) ché la diritta via era smarrita. (A)
Ahi quanto a dir qual era è cosa dura (B) esta selva selvaggia e aspra e forte (C) che nel pensier rinnova la paura! (B)
Inottava rima, each stanza consists of three alternate rhymes and one double rhyme, following the ABABABCCrhyme scheme. Example:
Canto l'arme pietose, e 'l Capitano Che 'l gran sepolcro liberò di Cristo. Molto egli oprò col senno e con la mano; Molto soffrì nel glorioso acquisto: E invan l'Inferno a lui s'oppose; e invano s'armò d'Asia e di Libia il popol misto: Chè 'l Ciel gli diè favore, e sotto ai santi Segni ridusse i suoi compagni erranti.
The sacred armies, and the godly knight, That the great sepulchre of Christ did free, I sing; much wrought his valor and foresight, And in that glorious war much suffered he; In vain 'gainst him did Hell oppose her might, In vain the Turks and Morians armèd be: His soldiers wild, to brawls and mutines prest, Reducèd he to peace, so Heaven him blest.
Balto-Finnic (e.g. Estonian, Finnish, Karelian) folk poetry uses a form oftrochaic tetrameter that has been called the Kalevala meter. The Finnish and Estonian national epics,Kalevala andKalevipoeg, are both written in this meter. The meter is thought to have originated during theProto-Finnic period.[38]
The primary form of epic, especially as discussed in this article, is theheroic epic, including such works as theIliad andMahabharata. Ancient sources also recognizeddidactic epic as a category, represented by such works asHesiod'sWorks and Days and Lucretius'sDe rerum natura.
A related type of poetry is theepyllion (plural: epyllia), a brief narrative poem with aromantic ormythologicaltheme. The term, which means "littleepic", came into use in the nineteenth century. It refers primarily to the erudite, shorter hexameter poems of theHellenistic period and the similar works composed at Rome from the age of theneoterics; to a lesser degree, the term includes some poems of theEnglish Renaissance, particularly those influenced byOvid.[39]The most famous example ofclassical epyllion is perhapsCatullus 64.
Epyllion is to be understood as distinct frommock epic, another light form.
Long poetic narratives that do not fit the traditional European definition of the heroic epic are sometimes known as folk epics. Indian folk epics have been investigated by Lauri Honko (1998),[40] Brenda Beck (1982)[41] and John Smith, amongst others. Folk epics are an important part of community identities.
The folk genre known as al-sira relates the saga of the Hilālī tribe and their migrations across the Middle East and north Africa, see Bridget Connelly (1986).[42]
In India, folk epics reflect the caste system of Indian society and the life of the lower levels of society, such as cobblers and shepherds, see C.N. Ramachandran, "Ambivalence and Angst: A Note on Indian folk epics," in Lauri Honko (2002. p. 295).[43] Some Indian oral epics feature strong women who actively pursue personal freedom in their choice of a romantic partner (Stuart, Claus, Flueckiger and Wadley, eds, 1989, p. 5).[44]
Japanese traditional performed narratives were sung by blind singers. One of the most famous,The Tale of the Heike, deals with historical wars and had a ritual function to placate the souls of the dead (Tokita 2015, p. 7).[45]
A variety of epic forms are found in Africa. Some have a linear, unified style while others have a more cyclical, episodic style (Barber 2007, p. 50).[46] The best known of African epics isEpic of Sundiata from Mali. Some contemporary scholarship presses against the bifurcation of "epic vs. novel".[47]
People in the rice cultivation zones of south China sang long narrative songs about the origin of rice growing, rebel heroes, and transgressive love affairs (McLaren 2022).[48] The borderland ethnic populations of China sang heroic epics, such as theEpic of King Gesar of theMongols, and the creation-myth epics of theYao people of south China.[49]
^It springs from a historical incident or is otherwise based on some fact; it turns upon the fruition ofthe fourfold ends and its hero is clever and noble; By descriptions of cities, oceans, mountains, seasons and risings of the moon or the sun; through sportings in garden or water, and festivities of drinking and love; Through sentiments-of-love-in-separation and through marriages, by descriptions of the birth-and-rise of princes, and likewise through state-counsel, embassy, advance, battle, and the hero's triumph; Embellished; not too condensed, and pervaded all through with poetic sentiments and emotions; with cantos none too lengthy and having agreeable metres and well-formed joints, And in each case furnished with an ending in a different metre – such a poem possessing good figures-of-speech wins the people's heart and endures longer than even a kalpa.[15]
^abKisak, Paul F. (19 May 2016).Epic Literature: " The Grand & Heroic Genre of Literature " (1st ed.). CreateSpace Publishing.ISBN978-1533354457.
^Battles, Paul (2014). "Toward a theory of Old English poetic genres: Epic, elegy, wisdom poetry, and the "traditional opening"".Studies in Philosophy.111 (1):1–34.doi:10.1353/sip.2014.0001.S2CID161613381.
^Quint, David (Spring 2007). "Milton'sBook of Numbers: Book 1 ofParadise Lost and its catalogue".International Journal of the Classical Tradition.13 (4):528–549.doi:10.1007/bf02923024.JSTOR30222176.S2CID161875103.
Heinsdorff, Cornel (2003).Christus, Nikodemus und die Samaritanerin bei Juvencus. Mit einem Anhang zur lateinischen Evangelienvorlage. Untersuchungen zur antiken Literatur und Geschichte. Vol. 67. Berlin, DE / New York, NY.ISBN3-11-017851-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Jansen, Jan; Henk, J; Maier, M.J., eds. (2004).Epic Adventures: Heroic narrative in the oral performance traditions of four continents. Literatur: Forschung und Wissenschaft (in German). Vol. 3. LIT Verlag.
