Epic poetry

Epic poetry
An epic poem, epic from Latin epicus, from the Ancient Greek adjective ἐπικός, epikos, from ἔπος, epos,1 "word, story, poem"2, epos from Latin epos, from Greek ἔπος, epos3, or epopee from French épopée, from neo-Latin epopoeia, from Ancient Greek ἐποποιία, epopoiia4 is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation5 Milman Parry and Albert Lord have argued that the Homeric epics, the earliest works of Western literature, were fundamentally an oral poetic form These works form the basis of the epic genre in Western literature Nearly all Western epic including Virgils Aeneid and Dantes Divine Comedy self-consciously presents itself as a continuation of the tradition begun by these poems Classical epic employs dactylic hexameter and recounts a journey, either physical as typified by Odysseus in the Odyssey or mental as typified by Achilles in the Iliad or both Epics also tend to highlight cultural norms and to define or call into question cultural values, particularly as they epic poetry, epic poetry examples, epic poetry crossword, epic poetry characteristics, epic poetry meaning, epic poetry form Epic poetry