Epic

A long narrative poem written in a grand, elaborate style, often celebrating the deeds of mythical heroes and warriors. "It is a polygonal, 'heroic' story incorporating myth, legend, folk tale and history" and is often of national significance (Cuddon 264).

There are two kinds of epic:

a) primary or the oral or primitive

b) secondary or literary

The primary epic belongs to the "oral tradition" (ibid. 265) and is therefore composed orally and is recited, but not written down. Nevertheless, some of those epics have been written down much later. In contrast, the secondary epic is written down from the start.

Examples for primary epics:

• Gilgamesh
• Homer's Odyssey
• Homer's Iliad
• Beowulf
• the lays of Elder Edda
• the epic cycles or narodne pesme of the South Slavs

These primary epics do all have certain features in common, which are "a central figure of heroic, even of superhuman calibre, perilous journeys, various misadventures, a strong element of the supernatural, repetition of fairly long passages of narrative or dialoge, elaborate greetings, digressions, epic similes (particularly in the Homeric poems), long speeches, vivid and direct desciptions of the kind favoured by the ballad-maker and, in general, a lofty tone; the tone of Classical tragedy." (ibid. 265 f.) Everything in these epics is "larger than life." (ibid.) Another important characteristic is "the use of the stock epithet", which is also known as the "Homeric epithet and the kenning." (ibid.) The primary epic can be seen, in many cases, as "the result of a number of lays or ballads" that have been gradually put together by a poet or bard (ibid.).

Examples for secondary epics:

• Virgil's Aeneid
• Lucan's Pharsalia
• the anonymous Song of Roland (originally in medieval French Chanson de Roland )
• Camoëns`s Os Lusiadas
• Torquato Tasso's Gerusalemme Liberata
• John Milton's Paradise Lost
• Victor Hugo's La Légende des siècles

Although "at some stage primary and secondary epic were, in a sense, beginning to overlap and influence each other" (ibid.), most of the other poems known as epics belong to the second category. In general, one can say that from the early 13th century onwards, secondary or literary epic becomes the main form, with Virgil being the principal influence. Some sources state that the secondary epic imitates the folk tale.

Due to a kind of "obsession with the 'heroic'" (ibid. 271), a "counter-genre" set in which resulted in the so-called mock-epic.

Sources:

Allingham, Philip V. "Notes on Heroic Poetry: The Primary and Secondary Epic." Victorian Web, last updated 21 February 2005 , http://www.victorianweb.org/genre/epic2.html. Accessed 19 July 2009.

Cuddon, J.A., ed. The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. Penguin Reference: London, 1999.

Yoshida, Atsuhiko. "Epic." Encyclopædia Britannica, first published online 26 Jul 1999, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/189625/epic. Accessed 19 July 2009.