Epic poetry  

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 +[[Image:Jupiter and Thetis detail.jpg |thumb|right|200px|''[[Jupiter and Thetis (Ingres)|Jupiter and Thetis]]'' ([[1811]]) by [[Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres|Ingres]], [[Thetis]] is depicted in the painting by [[Ingres]] as [[pleading]] at the knees of [[Zeus]]: "She sank to the ground beside him, put her left arm round his knees, raised her right hand to touch his chin, and so made her [[petition]] to the [[Zeus|Royal Son of Cronos]]" (''[[Iliad]]'', I).]]
 +{| class="toccolours" style="float: left; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 2em; font-size: 85%; background:#c6dbf7; color:black; width:30em; max-width: 40%;" cellspacing="5"
 +| style="text-align: left;" |
 +"Before whom, on her own knees fall’n, the knees of [[Jupiter]] [[Thetis|Her]] left hand held, her right his chin, and thus she did prefer Her son’s petition: “Father Jove! If ever I have stood Aidful to thee in word or work, with this imploréd good, Requite my aid, renown my son."--''[[Iliad ]]'' (8th century BC) by Homer
 +<hr>
 +"It may be questioned whether any of these <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[mock-heroic]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> [[parodies]] were intended to possess humour; but wherever we find such as have any traces of it, we may conclude that the imitation has been adopted to increase it. This does not necessarily amount to travesty, for the object is not always to throw contempt on the original. Thus, we cannot suppose "[[The Battle of the Frogs and Mice]]," or "[[The Banquet of Matron]]," although written in imitation of the heroic poetry of Homer, was intended to make "[[Iliad|The Iliad]]" appear ridiculous."--''[[History of English Humour]]'' (1878) by Alfred Guy Kingan L'Estrange
 +<hr>
 +“O [[Frogs]]! the [[Mice]] send threats to you of arms,<br>
 +And bid me bid ye battle and fix’d fight;<br>
 +Their eyes all wounded with Psicharpax’ sight<br>
 +Floating your waters, whom your king hath kill’d,<br>
 +
 +--''[[Batrachomyomachia]]'' by anon.
 +<hr>
 +No Beast is there without [[glimmer]] of [[infinity]],<br>
 +No eye so [[vile]] nor [[abject]] that brushes not<br>
 +Against [[lightning]] from on high, now [[tender]], now [[fierce]].<br>
 +
 +--''[[La Légende des siècles]]'' by Victor Hugo
 +
 +|}
{{Template}} {{Template}}
-The '''epic''' is a broadly defined [[genre]] of [[narrative poetry]], characterized by great length, multiple settings, large numbers of characters, or long span of time involved. As a result of this change in the use of the word, many prose works of the past may be retroactively called "epics" which were not composed or originally understood as such.+In [[ancient Greek]], 'epic' could refer to all poetry in [[dactylic hexameter]] (''epea''), which included not only [[Homer]] but also the wisdom poetry of [[Hesiod]], the utterances of the [[Delphic oracle]], and the strange theological verses attributed to [[Orpheus]]. Later tradition, however, has restricted the term 'epic' to ''heroic epic''.
-==Notable epic poems==+
-:''This list can be compared with two others, ''[[national epic]]'' and ''[[list of world folk-epics]]''.''<ref>According to that article, world folk epics are those which are not just literary [[masterpiece]]s but also an integral part of the [[world view]] of a people, originally oral, later written down by one or several authors.</ref>+
-===Ancient epics (to 500)===+
-*20th to 18th century BC:+
-**''[[Epic of Gilgamesh]]'' ([[Mesopotamian mythology]])+
-**''[[Atra-Hasis|Atrahasis]]'' (Mesopotamian mythology)+
-*8th to 6th century BC:+
-**''[[Enuma Elish]]'' ([[Babylonian mythology]])+
-**''[[Iliad]]'', ascribed to [[Homer]] ([[Greek mythology]])+
-**''[[Odyssey]]'', ascribed to [[Homer]] (Greek mythology)+
-**''[[Works and Days]]'', ascribed to [[Hesiod]] (Greek mythology)+
-*5th to 4th century BC:+
-**''[[Mahābhārata]]'', ascribed to [[Vyasa]] (Hindu mythology) (5th to 1st century BC)+
-**''[[Ramayana]]'', ascribed to [[Valmiki]] (Hindu mythology) (5th century BC to 4th century AD)+
-**The [[Book of Job]]+
-*3rd century BC:+
-**''[[Argonautica]]'' by [[Apollonius of Rhodes]]+
-*1st century BC: +
-**''[[Aeneid]]'' by [[Virgil]]+
-**''[[De rerum natura]]'' by [[Lucretius]]+
-*1st century AD:+
-**''[[Metamorphoses (poem)|Metamorphoses]]'' by [[Ovid]]+
-**''[[Pharsalia]]'' by [[Marcus Annaeus Lucanus|Lucan]]+
-**''Punica'' by [[Silius Italicus]]+
-**''[[Argonautica]]'' by [[Gaius Valerius Flaccus]]+
-**''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' and ''[[Achilleid]]'' by [[Statius]]+
-*2nd century:+
-**''[[Buddhacarita]]'' by {{unicode|[[Asvaghosa|Aśvaghoṣa]]}} ([[Indian epic poetry]])+
-**''Saundaranandakavya'' by {{unicode|Aśvaghoṣa}} (Indian epic poetry)+
-*2nd to 5th century:+
-**[[The Five Great Epics of Tamil Literature]]:+
-***''[[Cilappatikaram]]'' by Prince [[Ilango Adigal]]+
-***''[[Manimekalai]]'' by Seethalai Saathanar+
-***''[[Civaka Cintamani]]'' by [[Tirutakakatevar]]+
-***''[[Kundalakesi]]'' by a [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] poet+
-***''Valayapati'' by a [[Jainism|Jaina]] poet+
-*3rd to 4th century: +
-**''[[Posthomerica]]'' by [[Quintus of Smyrna]]+
-*4th century:+
-**''Evangeliorum libri'' by [[Juvencus]]+
-**''[[Kumaarasambhavam|Kumārasambhava]]'' by [[Kālidāsa]] ([[Indian epic poetry]])+
-**''[[Raghuvamsa]]'' by Kālidāsa (Indian epic poetry)+
-**''De Raptu Proserpinae'' by [[Claudian]]+
-*5th century:+
-**''[[Dionysiaca]]'' by [[Nonnus]]+
-===Medieval epics (500-1500)===+The epic is a broadly defined genre of poetry, which retells in a continuous narrative the life and works of a [[heroic]] or [[mythological]] person or group of persons. In the West, the ''[[Iliad]]'', ''[[Odyssey]]'' and the ''[[Nibelungenlied]]''; and in the East, the ''[[Mahabharata]]'', ''[[Ramayana]]'', and the ''[[Shahnama]]'' are often cited as examples of the epic genre.
-*7th century:+
-**''[[Táin Bó Cúailnge]]{{Fact|date=September 2008}}+
-*8th to 10th century:+
-**''[[Bhaṭṭikāvya]]'', Sanskrit courtly epic based on the [[Rāmāyaṇa]] and the [[Aṣṭādhyāyī]] of [[Pāṇini]].+
-*8th to 10th century: +
-**''[[Beowulf]]''+
-**''[[Waldere]]'', Old English version of the story told in ''Waltharius'' (below), known only as a brief fragment+
-**''[[David of Sasun]]'' ([[Armenian language]])+
-*9th century:+
-**''[[Bhagavata Purana]]'' ([[Sanskrit language|Sanskrit]] "''Stories of the Lord''") written from earlier sources+
-*10th century:+
-**''[[Shahnameh]]'' ([[Persian literature]]; epic poem detailing [[Persian Empire|Persian]] legend and history from prehistoric times to the fall of the [[Sassanid Empire]])+
-**''[[One Thousand and One Nights]]'' (Middle Eastern epic; prose and poetry, originally it is Persian)+
-**''[[Waltharius]]'' by Ekkehard of St. Gall, Latin version of the story of [[Walter of Aquitaine]]+
-**''[[The Battle of Maldon]]'', brief Old English epic describing a recent battle+
-*11th century: +
-**''[[Taghribat Bani Hilal]]'' ([[Arabic epic literature]])+
-**''[[Ruodlieb]]'', Latin epic by a German author+
-**''[[Digenis Acritas|Digenis Akritas]]'' ([[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] epic poem)+
-**''[[The Song of Roland]]''+
-**''[[Epic of King Gesar]]'' ([[Tibetan language|Tibetan]] epic; compiled from earlier sources)+
-**''[[Epic of Manas]]'' ([[Kyrgyz]] epic, possibly later)+
-*12th century:+
-**''[[The Knight in the Panther Skin]]'' by [[Shota Rustaveli]]+
-**''[[Alexandreis]]'', Latin epic by [[Walter of Châtillon]]+
-**''[[De bello Troiano]]'' and the lost ''[[Antiocheis (Joseph of Exeter)|Antiocheis]]'' by [[Joseph of Exeter]]+
-**''[[Carmen de Prodicione Guenonis]]'' (Latin version of the story of the ''Song of Roland'')+
-**''[[Architrenius]]'', satirical Latin epic by [[John of Hauville]]+
-**''[[Liber ad honorem Augusti]]'' by [[Peter of Eboli]], Latin narrative of the conquest of [[Sicily]] by [[Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor]]+
-**''[[The Tale of Igor's Campaign]]'' and ''[[Bylinas]]'' (XI-XIX c.)+
-*13th century:+
-**''[[Antarah ibn Shaddad|Antar]]'' ([[Arabic epic literature]])+
-**''[[Nibelungenlied]]'' ([[Germanic mythology]])+
-**''[[Brut (Layamon)|Brut]]'' by [[Layamon]]+
-**''[[Chanson de la Croisade Albigeoise]]'' ("Song of the Albigensian Crusade"; [[Occitan language|Occitan]])+
-**''[[Sirat al-Zahir Baibars]]'' ([[Arabic epic literature]])+
-**''[[Sundiata|Epic of Sundiata]]''+
-**''[[Cantar de Mio Cid|El Cantar de Mio Cid]]'', Spanish epic of the [[Reconquista]]+
-**''[[De triumphis ecclesiae]]'', Latin literary epic by [[Johannes de Garlandia (philologist)|Johannes de Garlandia]]+
-**''[[Parzival]]'' by [[Wolfram von Eschenbach]]+
-**''[[The Secret History of the Mongols]]+
-*14th century:+
-**''[[Cursor Mundi]]'' by an [[anonymity|anonymous]] cleric (c. 1300)+
-**''[[The Divine Comedy|Divina Commedia]]'' (''The Divine Comedy'') by [[Dante Alighieri]]+
-**''[[Africa (Petrarch)|Africa]]'', Latin literary epic by [[Petrarch]]+
-**''[[The Tale of the Heike]]'' ([[Japanese people|Japanese]] epic war tale)+
-*15th century:+
-**''[[Alliterative Morte Arthure]]''+
-**''[[Orlando innamorato]]'' by [[Matteo Maria Boiardo]] (1495)+
-===Modern epics (from 1500)===+
-*16th century:+
-**''[[Orlando furioso]]'' by [[Ludovico Ariosto]] (1516)+
-**''[[Os Lusíadas]]'' by [[Luís de Camões]] (c.1555)+
-**''[[La Araucana]]'' by [[Alonso de Ercilla y Zúñiga]] (1569-1589)+
-**''[[La Gerusalemme liberata]]'' by [[Torquato Tasso]] (1575)+
-**''[[Ramacharitamanasa]]'' (based on the ''[[Ramayana]]'') by Goswami [[Tulsidas]] (1577)+
-**''Lepanto'' by King [[James VI of Scotland]] (1591)+
-**''Matilda'' by [[Michael Drayton]] (1594)+
-**''[[The Faerie Queene]]'' by [[Edmund Spenser]] (1596)+
-*17th century:+
-**''[[The Barons' Wars]]'' by [[Michael Drayton]] (1603; early version 1596 entitled ''Mortimeriados'')+
-**''The Purple Island'' by Phineas Fletcher (1633)+
-**''[[Peril of Sziget|Szigeti veszedelem]]'', also known under the Latin title '' Obsidionis Szigetianae'', a [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]] epic by [[Nikola Zrinski|Miklós Zrínyi]] (1651)+
-**''[[Paradise Lost]]'' by [[John Milton]] (1667)+
-**''[[Paradise Regained]]'' by [[John Milton]] (1671)+
-**''Wojna chocimska'' by [[Wacław Potocki]] (1672)+
-**''Prince Arthur'' by [[Richard Blackmore]] (1695)+
-**''King Arthur'' by [[Richard Blackmore]] (1697)+
-*18th century:+
-**''Eliza'' by [[Richard Blackmore]] (1705)+
-**''Columbus'' by Ubertino Carrara (1714)+
-**''Redemption'' by [[Richard Blackmore]] (1722)+
-**[[Henriade]] by [[Voltaire]] (1723)+
-**''[[La Pucelle d'Orléans]]'' by [[Voltaire]] (1756)+
-**''Alfred'' by [[Richard Blackmore]] (1723)+
-**''[[Utendi wa Tambuka]]'' by Bwana Mwengo (1728)+
-**''Leonidas'' by [[Richard Glover (poet)|Richard Glover]] (1737)+
-**''Epigoniad'' by [[William Wilkie]] (1757)+
-**''The Highlander''; by [[James Macpherson]] (1758)+
-**''The Works of [[Ossian]]'' by [[James MacPherson]] (1765)+
-**''[[O Uraguai]]'' by Basílio da Gama (1769)+
-**''[[Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire]]''** by [[Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill]] (1773)+
-**''Der Messias'' by [[Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock]] (1773)+
-**''Rossiada'' by [[Mikhail Matveyevich Kheraskov]] (1771-1779)+
-**''Vladimir'' by [[Mikhail Matveyevich Kheraskov]] (1785)+
-**''Athenaid'' by [[Richard Glover (poet)|Richard Glover]] (1787)+
-**''Joan of Arc'' by [[Robert Southey]] (1796)+
-*19th century:+
-**''Thalaba the Destroyer'' by [[Robert Southey]] (1801)+
-**''Madoc'' by [[Robert Southey]] (1805)+
-**''Columbiad'' by [[Joel Barlow]] (1807)+
-**''[[Milton: a Poem]]'' by [[William Blake]] (1804-1810)+
-**''The Curse of [[Kehama]]'' by [[Robert Southey]] (1810)+
-**''Roderick, the Last of the Goths'' by [[Robert Southey]] (1814)+
-**''[[The Revolt of Islam (Laon and Cyntha)]]'' by [[Percy Bysshe Shelley]] (1817)+
-**''[[Endymion (poem)|Endymion]]'', (1818) by [[John Keats]]+
-**''[[Evangeline]]'' by [[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]] (1847)+
-**''[[Hyperion (poem)|Hyperion]]'', (1818), and ''[[The Fall of Hyperion]]'', (1819) by [[John Keats]]+
-**''L'Orléanide, Poème national en vingt-huit chants'', by [[Philippe-Alexandre Le Brun de Charmettes]] (1821)+
-**''[[Don Juan (Byron)|Don Juan]]'' by [[George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron|Lord Byron]] (1824)+
-**''[[Pan Tadeusz]]'' by [[Adam Mickiewicz]] (1834)+
-**''Smrt Smail-age Čengića'' by [[Ivan Mažuranić]] (1846) +
-**''[[Kalevala]]'' by [[Elias Lönnrot]] (1849 [[Finnish mythology]])+
-**''[[Kalevipoeg]]'' by [[Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald]] (1853 [[Estonian mythology]])+
-**''[[The Prelude]]'' by [[William Wordsworth]]+
-**''[[The Song of Hiawatha]]'' by [[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]] (1855)+
-**''[[La fin de Satan|La Fin de Satan]]'' by [[Victor Hugo]] (written between 1855 and 1860, published in 1886)+
-**''[[La Légende des siècles|La Légende des Siècles]]'' (''The Legend of the Centuries'') by [[Victor Hugo]] (1859-1877)+
-**''[[Martín Fierro]] by [[José Hernández]] (1872)+
-**''[[Clarel]]'' by [[Herman Melville]] (1876)+
-**''[[The City of Dreadful Night]]'' by [[James Thomson (B.V.)]] (finished in 1874, published in 1880)+
-**''Canigó'' by [[Jacint Verdaguer]] (1886)+
-**''[[Lāčplēsis]]'' ('The Bear-Slayer') by [[Andrejs Pumpurs]] (1888; Latvian Mythology)+
-*20th century:+
-**''Lahuta e Malcís'' by [[Gjergj Fishta]] (composed 1902-1937)+
-**''[[The Ballad of the White Horse]]'' by [[G. K. Chesterton]] (1911)+
-**''[[Fernando Pessoa#Mensagem|Mensagem]]'' by [[Fernando Pessoa]]+
-**''The Hashish-Eater; Or, The Apocalypse of Evil'' by [[Clark Ashton Smith]] (1920)+
-**''[[Kurukshetra]]''(1946), ''[[Rashmirathi]]''(1952), ''[[Urvashi]]'' (1961), [[Hunkar (epic poem)]] by [[Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar']] +
-**''[[Savitri (book)|Savitri]]'' by [[Aurobindo Ghose]] (1950)+
-**''Astronautilía-Hvězdoplavba'' by [[Jan Kresadlo|Jan Křesadlo]]+
-**''[[The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel]]'' by [[Nikos Kazantzakis]] ([[Greek language|Greek]] verse, composed 1924-1938)+
-**''[[The Cantos]]'' by [[Ezra Pound]] (composed 1915-1969)+
-**''[[Cycle of the West|A Cycle of the West]]'' by [[John Neihardt]] (composed 1921-1949)+
-**''"A"'' by [[Louis Zukofsky]] (composed 1928-1968)+
-**''[[Paterson (poem)|Paterson]]'' by [[William Carlos Williams]] (composed c.1940-1961)+
-**''Victory for the Slain'' by [[Hugh John Lofting]] (1942)+
-**''The Maximus Poems'' by [[Charles Olson]] (composed 1950-1970)+
-**''[[Aniara (poem)|Aniara]]'' by [[Harry Martinson]] (composed 1956)+
-**''Libretto for the Republic of Liberia'' by [[Melvin B. Tolson]] (1953)+
-**''Mountains and Rivers Without End'' by [[Gary Snyder]] (composed 1965-1996)+
-**''[[The Changing Light at Sandover]]'' by [[James Merrill]] (composed 1976-1982)+
-**''[[Genesis: An Epic Poem]]'' by [[Frederick Turner]] (1988)+
-**''[[Omeros]]'' by [[Derek Walcott]] (1990)+
-**''The Levant'' by [[Mircea Cărtărescu]] (1990)+
-**''The Descent of Alette'' by [[Alice Notley]] (1996)+
-**''[[Overlord (epic poem)|Overlord: The Triumph of Light 1944-45]]'' by [[Nicholas Hagger]] (1995-7)+
-**''Cheikh Anta Diop: Poem for the Living'' by [[Mwatabu S. Okantah]] (1997)+
-**''The Dream of Norumbega: Epic on the U.S.'' by [[James Wm. Chichetto]] (c. 1990; p. 2000- )+
-<!--Other epic POETRY traditions:+The genre was parodied in the [[mock-heroic]] beginning with the ''[[Batrachomyomachia]]''.
- Portuguese -+==See also==
- African?-->+* [[Arabic epic literature]]
 +* [[Alpamysh]]
 +* [[Calliope]] (Greek muse of epic poetry)
 +* [[Caribbean poetry|Caribbean epic poetry]]
 +* [[Chanson de geste]]
 +* [[Epic (genre)|Epic fiction]]
 +** [[List of epic poems]]
 +** [[List of world folk-epics]]
 +** [[High fantasy|Epic fantasy]]
 +** [[Epic film]]
 +** [[Epic theatre]]
 +* [[History painting]]
 +* [[Mock epic]]
 +* [[Monomyth]]
 +* [[Narrative poetry]]
 +* [[National epic]]
 +* [[National poet]]
{{GFDL}} {{GFDL}}

Current revision

Jupiter and Thetis (1811) by Ingres, Thetis is depicted in the painting by Ingres as pleading at the knees of Zeus: "She sank to the ground beside him, put her left arm round his knees, raised her right hand to touch his chin, and so made her petition to the Royal Son of Cronos" (Iliad, I).
Enlarge
Jupiter and Thetis (1811) by Ingres, Thetis is depicted in the painting by Ingres as pleading at the knees of Zeus: "She sank to the ground beside him, put her left arm round his knees, raised her right hand to touch his chin, and so made her petition to the Royal Son of Cronos" (Iliad, I).

"Before whom, on her own knees fall’n, the knees of Jupiter Her left hand held, her right his chin, and thus she did prefer Her son’s petition: “Father Jove! If ever I have stood Aidful to thee in word or work, with this imploréd good, Requite my aid, renown my son."--Iliad (8th century BC) by Homer

"It may be questioned whether any of these [mock-heroic] parodies were intended to possess humour; but wherever we find such as have any traces of it, we may conclude that the imitation has been adopted to increase it. This does not necessarily amount to travesty, for the object is not always to throw contempt on the original. Thus, we cannot suppose "The Battle of the Frogs and Mice," or "The Banquet of Matron," although written in imitation of the heroic poetry of Homer, was intended to make "The Iliad" appear ridiculous."--History of English Humour (1878) by Alfred Guy Kingan L'Estrange

“O Frogs! the Mice send threats to you of arms,
And bid me bid ye battle and fix’d fight;
Their eyes all wounded with Psicharpax’ sight
Floating your waters, whom your king hath kill’d,

--Batrachomyomachia by anon.

No Beast is there without glimmer of infinity,
No eye so vile nor abject that brushes not
Against lightning from on high, now tender, now fierce.

--La Légende des siècles by Victor Hugo

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In ancient Greek, 'epic' could refer to all poetry in dactylic hexameter (epea), which included not only Homer but also the wisdom poetry of Hesiod, the utterances of the Delphic oracle, and the strange theological verses attributed to Orpheus. Later tradition, however, has restricted the term 'epic' to heroic epic.

The epic is a broadly defined genre of poetry, which retells in a continuous narrative the life and works of a heroic or mythological person or group of persons. In the West, the Iliad, Odyssey and the Nibelungenlied; and in the East, the Mahabharata, Ramayana, and the Shahnama are often cited as examples of the epic genre.

The genre was parodied in the mock-heroic beginning with the Batrachomyomachia.

[edit]

See also


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