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EPIC POETRY IN ENGLISH LITERATURE

EPIC POETRY IN ENGLISH LITERATURE

The epic is long, narrative poetry, generally concerning a serious subject and describes the heroic deeds and events important to a culture or nation. Epic is one of the oldest genres of literature. As Virgil announces, epic is the institutional form which caters to the first human need, for singing of arms and the man. Epic is in a formal, ceremonial style and tells a story, generally in chronological order. “Quite often the gods participate in the action and influence the outcome of the events, as they do in The Trojan War in Illiad and in the founding of Rome in Virgil’s Aeneid” (Kirszner 37).

All epic shares similar characteristics in common. The hero, the main character, is noble birth or high social position and defined with his status. Moreover the hero has national and international importance and great historical and legendary significance. For example Beowulf is a national hero and he is also noble birth. The setting of epic is vast, involving all races, the world and the universe. The hero has super-human power and courage. Sometimes supernatural forces – gods, demons - help or hinder the actions of hero. Grendel is the demon in Beowulf. In the following lines explain some of the features of the demon, Grendel:

Grendel this monster grim called,
March-riever-mighty, in moorland living,
In fen and fastness; fief of the giants
The hapless wight a while had kept
Since the Creator his exile doomed.
(ll 102-6)

Epic poetry is divided into two parts: The first one is Primary or Folk epic. Primary epic has not a single author; it is the product of oral tradition. It is sung or recited in a whole and is one of the entertainment of that age. Primary epics are simple heroic stories and do not care great national or international subjects. Second one is Secondary or Literary epic. The literary epic pays more attention to the meaning. Hero develops and learns to extension of his own ideas, his desires and wishes. Literary epic is more philosophical, didactic and highly elusive. Beowulf is an example of primary epic and John Milton’s Paradise Lost is an example of secondary epic.

“Speaker begins by stating a theme, a controlling idea or message or by invoking a higher power” (Granner 40). In Beowulf: “Lo, praise of the prowess of people-kings/ of spear-armed Danes, in days long sped, / we have heard, and what honor the athelings won!”(ll 1-3). In Paradise Lost:
Of Man’s first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste
Brought death into the World, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful seat
(ll 1-5)

Both in Beowulf and Paradise Lost the poet explains the subject of the poem to the reader. The first a few lines tell the reader the main theme and subject matter of that poem.

In epic poetry religious elements have an important place. In primary epics generally paganistic elements were used whereas in secondary epics biblical subjects and motifs were used. Loewenstein states that:

There are many points at which Paradise Lost reminds us that its sacred themes and Biblical authority rival and supersede its epic precursors and their mythology. One telling passage from Book 1, the famous description of Mulciber, Pandemonium’s architect, may serve to illustrate how Milton’s Protestant poem carefully distances itself from pagan fable, the stuff of classical epic:

Nor was his name unheard or unador’d
In ancient Greece; and in Ausonian land
Men call’d him Mulciber; and how he fell
From Heav’n, the fabl’d, thrown by angry Jove
Sheer o’er the Crystal Battlements: from Morn
To moon he fell, from Noon to dewy Eve,
A Summer’s day; and with the setting Sun
Dropt from the Zenith like a falling Star,
On Lemnos th’ Aegaean Isle: thus they relate,
Erring.
(ll 738-47)

Loewenstein continues: “This passage richly evokes the mystic world and conflicts of classical epic (including the wrathful deity), while specifically alluding to the fall of Hephaestus recounted in The Iliad (Book 1)” (37-8).

“The two great epic adversaries, the hero and his antagonist, meet at the climax, which must be delayed as long as possible to sustain maximum interest” (“Characteristic of epic hero”). Meeting of Beowulf and Grendel is the climax of Beowulf and this meeting is delayed as much as possible so that the reader’s curiosity is getting greater. The problem is solved and the protagonist (hero) is the winner.

The epic poetry is based on a heroic event and antagonist is generally a supernatural creature. Story comes to end with the victory of the hero. Epic poems continue for centuries both oral traditions like primary epic and written like secondary epics.

Mehmet TOKGÖZ © 2007

WORKS CITED

Granner, C. Robert, & Stern, E. Malcolm. (1989). McDougal, Littell Literature. Illinois:
McDougal, Little & Company.

Kirszner, G. Laurie, & Mandell, G. Stephen. (1994).Literature: Reading>Reacting>Writing.
USA: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.

Loewestein, David. (1993). Milton Paradise Lost. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Milton, John. (2005). Paradise Lost. London: Oxford University Press.

Allingham, V. Philip. (2005). Notes on Heroic Poetry: The Primary and Secondary Epic.
Canada. Victorian Web. http://www.victorianweb.org/genre/epic2.html.

WORKS CONSULTED

Conrad, Peter (2003). Cassell’s History of English Literature. London: Sterling Publishing Co.

Davies, W. Marion (1995). Guide to English Literature. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.

Edwards, Karen. (2007). Hellhound. Milton Quarterly, 41, 88-91.

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