Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

EPIC POETRY

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V09, Page 682 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

EPIC See also:

POETRY , or Epos (from the Gr. giros, a See also:story, and &irucos, pertaining to a story), the names given to the most dignified and elaborate forms of narrative poetry. The word epopee is also, but more rarely, employed to designate the same thing, iro1oc6s in See also:Greek being a maker of epic poetry, and etroirotta what he makes. It is to See also:Greece, where the earliest See also:literary monuments which we possess are of an epical See also:character, that we turn for a See also:definition of these vast heroic compositions, and we gather that their subject-See also:matter was not confined, as See also:Voltaire and the critics of the 18th See also:century supposed, to " narratives in See also:verse of warlike adventures." When we first discover the epos, See also:hexameter verse has already been selected for its vehicle. In this See also:form epic poems were composed not merely dealing with See also:war and See also:personal See also:romance, but carrying out a didactic purpose, or celebrating the' mysteries of See also:religion. These three divisions, to which are severally attached the more or less mythical names of See also:Homer, See also:Hesiod and See also:Orpheus seem to have marked the earliest literary See also:movement of the Greeks. But, even here, we must be warned that what we possess is not See also:primitive; there had been unwritten epics, probably in hexameters, See also:long before the See also:composition of any now-surviving fragment. The See also:saga of the Greek nation, the See also:catalogue of its arts and possessions, the See also:rites and beliefs of its priesthood, must have been circulated, by word of mouth, long before any See also:historical poet was See also:born. We look upon Homer and Hesiod as records of primitive thought, but See also:Professor See also:Gilbert See also:Murray reminds us that " our Iliad, Odyssey, Erga and Theogony are not the first, nor the second, nor the twelfth of such embodiments." The See also:early epic poets, See also:Lesches, See also:Linus, Orpheus, See also:Arctinus, Eugammon are the veriest shadows, whose names often betray their symbolic and fabulous character. It is now believed that there was a class of minstrels, the Rhapsodists or Homeridae, whose business it was to recite poetry at feasts and other See also:solemn occasions. " The real bards of early Greece were all nameless and impersonal." When our tradition begins to be preserved, we find everything of a saga-character attributed to Homer, a See also:blind See also:man and an inhabitant of See also:Chios. This gradually crystallized until we find See also:Aristotle definitely treating Homer as a See also:person, and attributing to him the composition of three See also:great poems, the Iliad, the Odyssey and the Margites, now lost (see HOMER). The first two of these have been preserved and form for us the type of the See also:ancient epic; when we speak of epic poetry, we unconsciously measure it by the example of the Iliad and the Odyssey.

It is quite certain, however, that these poems had not merely been preceded by a vast number of revisions of the mythical See also:

history of the See also:country, but were accompanied by innumerable poems of a similar character, now entirely lost. That antiquity did not regard these other epics as equal in beauty to the Iliad seems to be certain; but such poems as Cypria, Iliou See also:Persis (See also:Sack of See also:Ilion) and Aethiopis can hardly but have exhibited other sides of the epic tradition. Did we possess them, it is almost certain that we could speak with more assurance as to the See also:scope of epic poetry in the days of oral tradition, and could understand more clearly what sort of See also:ballads in hexameter it was which rhapsodes took See also:round from See also:court to court. In the 4th century B.C. it seems that See also:people began to write down what was not yet forgotten of all this oral poetry. Unfortunately, the earliest critic who describes this See also:process is See also:Proclus, a See also:Byzantine neo-Platonist, who did not write until some 800 years later, when the whole tradition had become hopelessly corrupted. When we pass from Homer and Hesiod, about whose actual existence critics will be eternally divided, we reach in the 7th century a poet, See also:Peisander of See also:Rhodes, who wrote an epic poem, the Heracleia, of which fragments remain. Other epic writers, who appear to be undoubtedly historic, are See also:Antimachus of See also:Colophon, who wrote a Thebais; See also:Panyasis, who, like Peisander, celebrated the feats of Heracles; See also:Choerilus of See also:Samos; and Anyte, of whom we only know that she was an epic poetess, and was called " The See also:female Homer." In the 6th and 5th centuries B.C. there was a distinct school of philosophical epic, and we distinguish the names of See also:Xenophanes, Parmenides and See also:Empedocles as the leaders of it. From the See also:dawn of Latin literature epic poetry seems to have been cultivated in See also:Italy. A Greek See also:exile, named Livius Andronicus, translated the Odyssey into Latin during the first Punic War, but the earliest See also:original epic of See also:Rome was the lost Bellum Punicum of See also:Naevius, a See also:work to which See also:Virgil was indebted. A little later, See also:Ennius composed, about 172 B.C., in 18 books, an historical epic of the Annales, dealing with the whole See also:chronicle of Rome. This was the foremost Latin poem, until the See also:appearance of the Aeneid; it was not imitated, remaining, for a See also:hundred years, as Mr Mackail has said, " not only the unique, but the satisfying achievement in this See also:kind of poetry." Virgil began the most famous of See also:Roman epics in the See also:year 30 B.C., and when he died, nine years later, he desired that the MS. of the Aeneid should be burned, as it required three years' work to See also:complete it. Nevertheless, it seems to us, and seemed to the ancient See also:world, almost perfect, and a priceless See also:monument of See also:art; it is written, like the great Greek poems on which it is patently modelled, in hexameters.

In the next See also:

generation, the Pharsalia of See also:Lucan, of which See also:Cato, as the type of the republican spirit, is the See also:hero, was the See also:principal example of Latin epic. See also:Statius, under the See also:Flavian emperors, wrote several epic poems, of which the Thebaid survives. In the 1st century A.D. See also:Valerius See also:Flaccus wrote the Argonautica in 8 books, and Silius Italicus the Punic War, in 17 books; these authors show a great decline in See also:taste and merit, even in comparison with Statius, and Silius Italicus, in particular, is as purely imitative as the worst of the epic writers of See also:modern See also:Europe. At the See also:close of the 4th century the See also:style revived with Claudian, who produced five or six elaborate historical and mythological epics of which the See also:Rape of Proser See also:pine was probably the most remarkable; in his interesting poetry we have a valuable See also:link between the See also:Silver See also:Age in Rome and the See also:Italian See also:Renaissance. With Claudian the history of epic poetry among the ancients closes. In See also:medieval times there existed a large See also:body of narrative poetry to which the See also:general See also:title of Epic has usually been given. Three principal See also:schools are recognized, the See also:French, the See also:Teutonic and the Icelandic. Teutonic epic poetry deals, as a See also:rule, with legends founded on the history of See also:Germany in the 4th, 5th and 6th centuries, and in particular with such heroes as See also:Ermanaric, See also:Attila and See also:Theodoric. But there is also an important See also:group in it which deals with See also:English themes, and among these See also:Beowulf, Waldere, The See also:Lay of See also:Maldon and Finnesburh are pre-eminent. To this group is allied the purely See also:German poem of See also:Hildebrand, attributed to c. 800.

Among these Beowulf is the only one which exists in anything like complete form, and it is of all examples of Teutonic epic the most important. With all its trivialities and incongruities, which belong to a barbarous age, Beowulf is yet a solid and comprehensive example of native epic poetry. It is written, like all old Teutonic work of the kind, in alliterative unrhymed See also:

rhythm. In See also:Iceland, a new heroic literature was invented in the See also:middle ages, and to this we owe the Sagas, which are, in fact, a reduction to See also:prose of the epics of the warlike history of the See also:North. These Sagas took the See also:place of a .group of archaic Icelandic epics, the See also:series of which seems to have closed with the See also:noble poem of Atlamdl, the principal surviving specimen of epic poetry as it was cultivated in the primitive literature of Iceland. The surviving epical fragments of Icelandic composition are found thrown together in the Codex Regius, under the title of The See also:Elder See also:Edda, a most See also:precious MS. discovered in the 17th century. The Icelandic epics seem to have been shorter and more episodical in character than the lost Teutonic specimens; both kinds were written in alliterative verse. It is not probable that either possessed the organic unity and vitality of spirit which make the Sagas so delightful. The French medieval epics (see CHANSONS DE GESTE) are See also:late in comparison with those of See also:England, Germany and Iceland. They form a curious transitional link between primitive and modern poetry; the literature of civilized Europe may be said to begin with them. There is a great increase of simplicity, a great broadening of the See also:scene of See also:action. The Teutonic epics were obscure and intense, the French chansons de geste are lucid and easy.

The existing masterpiece of this kind, the magnificent See also:

Roland, is doubtless the most interesting and pleasing of all the, epics of medieval Europe. Professor See also:Ker's See also:analysis of its merits' may be taken as typical of all that is best in the vast body of epic which comes between the See also:antique See also:models, which were unknown to the medieval poets, and the artificial epics of a later See also:time which were founded on vast ideal themes, in See also:imitation of the ancients. " There is something lyrical in Roland, but the poem is not governed by lyrical principles; it requires the deliberation and the freedom of epic; it must have See also:room to move in before it can come up to the height of its See also:argument. The abruptness of its periods is not really an interruption of its even See also:flight; it is an abruptness of detail, like a broken See also:sea with a larger See also:wave moving under it; it does not impair or disguise the grandeur of the movement as a whole." Of the progress and decline of the chansons de geste (q.v.) from the ideals of Roland a See also:fuller See also:account is given elsewhere. To the See also:Nibelungenlied (q.v.) also, detailed See also:attention is given in a See also:separate See also:article. What may be called the artificial or secondlrry epics of modern Europe, founded upon an imitation of the Iliad and the Aeneid, are more numerous than the See also:ordinary reader supposes, although but few of them have preserved much vitality. In Italy the Chanson de Roland inspired romantic epics by See also:Luigi See also:Pulci (1432–1487), whose Morgante See also:Maggiore appeared in 1481, and is a masterpiece of See also:burlesque; by M. M. See also:Boiardo (1434–1494), whose Orlando Innamorato was finished in 1486; by See also:Francesco See also:Bello (1440?-1495), whose Mambriano was published in 1497; by Lodovico See also:Ariosto (q.v.), whose Orlando Furioso, by far the greatest of its class, was published in 1516, and by Luigi See also:Dolce (1508–1568), as well as by a great number of less illustrious poets. G.G. Trissino (1478–1549) wrote a Deliverance of Italy from the Goths in 1547, and Bernardo See also:Tasso (1493–1569) an Amadigi in 15S9; See also:Berni remodelled the epic of Boiardo in 1541, and Teofilo Folango (149€-1544), ridiculed the whole school in an Orlandino of 1526. An extraordinary feat of See also:mock-heroic epic was The Bucket (1622) of Alessandro See also:Tassoni (1565–1638).

The most splendid of all the epics of Italy, however, was, and remains, the See also:

Jerusalem Delivered of Torquato Tasso (q.v.), published originally in 1580, and afterwards rewritten as The See also:Conquest of Jerusalem, 1593• The fantastic Adone (1623) of G. B. See also:Marini (1569–1625) and the long poems of See also:Chiabrera, close the See also:list of Italian epics. Early Portuguese literature is See also:rich in epic poetry. Luis Pereira Brandao wrote an Elegiada in 18 books, published in 1588; Jeronymo See also:Corte-Real (d. 1588) a Shipwreck of Sepulveda and two other epics; V. M. Quevedo, in 16o1, an See also:Alphonso of See also:Africa, in 12 books; Sa de Menezes (d. 1664) a Conquest of Malacca, 1634; but all these, and many more, are obscured by the See also:glory of See also:Camoens (q.v.), whose magnificent Lusiads had been printed in 1572, and forms the See also:summit of Portuguese literature. In See also:Spanish poetry, the Poem of the See also:Cid takes the first place, as the great See also:national epic of the middle ages; it is supposed to have been written between 1135 and 1175. It was followed by the Rodrigo, and the medieval school closes with the Alphonso XI. of Rodrigo Yanez, probably written at the close of the 12th century. The success of the Italian imitative epics of the 15th century led to some imitation of their form in See also:Spain.

Juan de la Cueva (155o?–16o6) published a Conquest of Belica in 1603; Cristobal de Virues (1550–161o) a Monserrate, in 1588; Luis Barahona de See also:

Soto continued Ariosto in a Tears of See also:Angelica; Gutierrez wrote an Auslriada in 1584; but perhaps the finest modern epic in Spanish verse is the Araucana (1569–1590) of Alonso de Ercilla y Zfiniga (1533–1595), " the first literary work of merit," as Mr Fitzmaurice-See also:Kelly remarks, " composed in either See also:American See also:continent." In See also:France, the epic never flourished in modern times, and no real success attended the Franciade of See also:Ronsard, the See also:Alaric of See also:Scudery, the Pucelle of See also:Chapelain, the Divine Epopee of See also:Soumet, or even the Henriade of Voltaire. In English literature The Faery See also:Queen of See also:Spenser has the same claim as the Italian poems mentioned above to See also:bear the name of epic, and See also:Milton, who 'stands entirely apart, may be said, by his isolated See also:Paradise Lost, to take See also:rank with Homer and Virgil, as one of the three types of the mastery of epical composition. See See also:Bossu, Traite du poeme epique (1675); Voltaire, Sur la poesie epique; Fauviel, L'Origine de l'epopee chevaleresque (1832) ; W. P. Ker, Epic and Romance (1897), and Essays in Medieval Literature (1905) ; Gilbert Murray, History of Ancient Greek Literature (1897); W. von See also:Christ, Geschichte der griechischen Litteratur (1879); Gaston See also:Paris, La Litterature francaise au moyeh age (189o); See also:Leon See also:Gautier, See also:Les Epopees frangaises (1865-1868). For See also:works on the Greek epics see also GREEK LITERATURE and See also:CYCLE. (E.

End of Article: EPIC POETRY

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
EPHTHALITES, or WHITE HUNS 		[next]
EPICENE (from the Gr. i rixocvos, common)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries