Page 26 - DENG405_BRITISH_POETRY

Unit 2: Major Literary Terms-II

2.7 Epic Notes

An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of
heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Oral poetry may qualify as an epic, and
Albert Lord and Milman Parry have argued that classical epics were fundamentally an oral poetic
form. Nonetheless, epics have been written down at least since the works of Virgil, Dante Alighieri,
and John Milton. Many probably would not have survived if not written down. The first epics are
known as primary, or original, epics. One such epic is the Old English story Beowulf. Epics that
attempt to imitate these like Milton’s Paradise Lost are known as literary, or secondary, epics. Another
type of epic poetry is epyllion, which is a brief narrative poem with a romantic or mythological
theme. The term, which means ‘little epic’, came into use in the nineteenth century. It refers primarily
to the erudite, shorter hexameter poems of the Hellenistic period and the similar works composed at
Rome from the age of the neoterics; to a lesser degree, the term includes some poems of the English
Renaissance, particularly those influenced by Ovid. The most famous example of classical epyllion is
perhaps Catullus 64.

In the East, the most famous works of epic poetry are the Ramayana and
Mahabharata, with the Iliad and the Odyssey, which form part of the Western
canon, fulfilling the same function in the Western world.

2.7.1 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 study 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.

Is epic a lengthy narrative poem. Why?

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 is 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.
An attempt to deliminate nine main characteristics of an epic:
1. It opens in medias res.
2. The setting is vast, covering many nations, the world or the universe.
3. Begins with an invocation to a muse (epic invocation).
4. It starts with a statement of the theme.
5. Includes the use of epithets.
6. Contains long lists (epic catalogue).

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