Epic Poetry

  Epic Poetry  (Types of Poetry Lecture 2)

https://youtu.be/U-5ld7Y8rIo

What is an Epic? 

An epic is a long narrative poem recounting heroic deeds on a serious subject, written in a formal and elevated style, centering on a heroic or quasi-divine figure whose action determines the fate of a tribe, a nation or the human race. 

Epic Conventions

• An epic is inaugurated with an argument or the proposition of the subject matter, followed by the invocation of a heavenly Muse for poetic inspiration. 
• An epic begins in medias res that is in the middle of things or at a critical point in the action. Iliad began in the midst of the Trojan war; Paradise Lost opens with the Fallen Angels in hell, determined to avenge. 
• A catalogue of warring sides are given in detail as to be seen in Iliad and Paradise Lost. 

Features of Epic poetry 

• Setting: The setting of an epic is of ample scale, creating a cosmic spectacle including heaven, earth, hell and the space between. 
• Action : The action involves extraordinary deeds in battle as to be seen in Trojan war by Achilles, or that of a long, perilous journey, as undertaken by Odysseus, or the rebellion of Satan and his followers against God. 
• Hero: An epic hero is a magnificent figure of national or cosmic importance. Often they are endowed with a semi divine parentage, as Achilles was the son of the sea nymph Thetis and Peleus, a Greek king; Virgil's Aeneas was the son of Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite; in The Mahabharata, the Pandavas are the sons of the demi God's like Indra, Surya etc. 
• Machinery : In the cosmic actions of the epic the supernatural, especially the Gods are seen to take keen interest or active part as we see the Olympian Gods in Homer’s epic world, Christ in Paradise Lost, Krushna(as an incarnation of Vishnu) in The Mahabharata. 
• Style : The ceremonial performance of epic is narrated in an elevated and grand style, which is, deliberately distanced from the ordinary speech, to add to the grandeur and formality of the heroic subject and magnitude. 

Primary epic and secondary epic

• C.S. Lewis has made a useful distinction between primary Or folk epics or traditional epics and secondary epics or literary epics. 
• Primary epics, such as Beowulf and Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey,The Mahabharata, The Ramayana, are those which had been originally oral poems about a tribe or national hero in warlike ages. Secondary epics have a structure similar to primary epics, and have a definite author, but have been composed for a society that is substantially distant, particularly chronologically, from the world described in the epic, for example, Virgil’s Aeneid, and Milton’s Paradise Lost. 

Mock - Epic Poetry

• Mock -epic / mock- heroic poetry is a type of parody that mimics the elaborate structure, cosmic tone, and ceremonious style of classical epics to narrate a trivial subject matter for ludicrous effect.
• Historically, the mock-heroic style was popular in 17th-century Italy, and in the post-Restoration and Augustan periods in Great Britain.
• The purpose was to satirize an individual, a stylistic form or often a society, standing on the verge of loosing its morality.
• The earliest example of the form is the Batrachomyomachia ascribed to Homer by the Romans and parodying his work, but believed by most modern scholars to be the work of an anonymous poet in the time of Alexander the Great. Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock, John Dryden's MacFlecknoe are generally considered to be one of the best examples of this genre that targetted the moral frivolity and the artificial poetic pomp of the contemporary age. 

Epic Simile 

• Epic Similes or Homeric Similes are formal, detailed, extended and elaborative similes that go far beyond its points of close parallel to the primary subjects to intensify the heroic stature of a subject, create vivid imagery, and connect with the readers on an emotional level. 
• Unlike brief similes, epic similes use extended narratives, frequently drawn from nature or daily life, to parallel an event or action in the story, enriching the reader's understanding of the characters, setting, and themes. 
• Examples : Milton in his Paradise Lost has compared Pandemonium with the swarming of bees; In Homer's Iliad, the ranks of soldiers are compared to the "shudder of the west wind suddenly rising scatters across the water", or Homer's comparison of Achilles' rage to a lion attacking a flock of sheep in The Iliad.

https://youtu.be/U-5ld7Y8rIo