I'm at the libary and I have no way of saving this so here we go.
Literature
Willow Smith
Brian Smith
August 19, 2008
List and explain some of the characteristics of epic poetry.
What makes Homer’s work so well-known is his ability to write a story, or fantasy into an epic poem. An epic poem is a story based of methodical method that is written in a rhythmic way, that makes its self a Epic.
The first charactistic to an Epic is that Primary epics were originally intended to be sung or recited to music other then to be written such as a novel or essay. The second characteristic to an epic is that most epics deities and other supernatural agencies are often involved in human affairs: “What god was it….?” asks Homer in the famous epic question that opens the Iliad. The third quality of an epic is that the poem often has national intetest and has a national bias: “and brought low the souls of so many Acheans.” The fourth feature in an epic would be that the chief epics seem gen erated by periods of upheaval, of struggle;e and adventure, such as the Trojan War for Homer’s epics and the Moslem invasion of Europe in the Song of Roland. The fifth trait in
1. Primary epics were originally intended to be sung or recited to music: "Sing, Muse . . . ."
2. In primary epics, deities and other supernatural agencies are often involved in human affairs: "What god was it . . . ?" asks Homer in the famous epic question that opens the Iliad.
3. The poem often has national interest and has a national bias: "and brought low the souls of so many Acheans" (Iliad, Book I).
4. Primary epics seem generated by periods of upheaval, of struggle and adventure, such as the Trojan War for Homer's epics and the Moslem invasion of Europe in the Song of Roland.
5. Often, the principal characters are larger-than-life demigods (descendants of deities) or heroes of immense stature and strength. They represent such cultural ideals are endurance and cunning (Odysseus), all-round virtue or arte (Achilles), fair play and selflessness (Beowulf), chivalric self-sacrifice (Roland), or Christian love (Adam).
6. In both kinds of epic, single combat is a common plot device; if the warriors are equals, such as Achilles and Hector, they fight with sword and spear; if the adversaries are not equally heroic, as in the case of Odysseus and the suitors, the protagonist may use lesser weapons such as a bow. The hero often has a special weapon (e. g., Achilles' Pelian ash spear) or quality (e. g., Odysseus's ability to adopt disguises).
7. The subject of the poem is announced in the opening lines, in an invocation (in which the poet calls for divine assistance to tell his tale) and epic question in classical epics.
8. As opposed to the epyllion (such as the 892-line "Sohrab and Rustum" and Paradise Regained), the true epic is long (the Iliad and the Odyssey each contain 24 books) and dignified (courtly address and epithet are common).
9. Geographical and temporal settings are wide: the action of the Odyssey, for example, occurs across all of the known world of the Greeks over a twenty-year period. However, the action may be compressed into a matter of days (as in the case of the Iliad) or even hours (as in the case of the Song of Roland). The Odyssey takes roughly forty days.
10. Such great issues as the founding of the Roman race and the state (the AEneid) are at stake.
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