hdytce6

1. The Epic Literary Form
NOTES

2. The Epic Plot
• 1. The setting is historical but remote in time
and place; it is in a period of great
achievement, a heroic age.
• 2. The narrative is long.
– a. A series of adventures involving a central figure
of heroic proportions.
– b. A series of episodes important in the
development of a nation or a race
• 3. The epic plot is an imitation of great exploits,
great in the sense that they are immensely
difficult and of great consequence.
• 4. The outcome of the plot is different from that
of tragedy in that it is carried to a successful
conclusion regardless of the hero. As has been
pointed out, the hero’s personality is not
overthrown by his death.*

3. The Epic Character/Hero
• 1. Central figure great in rank,
great in character
• 2. His friends and fellows are of
like stature

4. • 3. His enemies are “worthy of his steel”
• 4. He has a great soul, immense energy, and
the capacity for great exploits.
• 5. His personality must be so stable that the
blows of fortune can do nothing to him. He
cannot be turned aside from the pursuit of his
goal.

5. 6. He can be utterly ruthless and
pitiless if such actions are
countered by virtues. (The
tradition of the tribal chieftain,
who, if he were strong and had
due regard for the duties of
leadership in times of peril, was
accepted as a rallying point by
the tribe despite other
shortcomings such as cruelty,
existing in the person of the epic
hero.)

6. • 7. The epic hero is
extremely tenacious in
the pursuit of any end.
To illustrate this, his
actions must be large
ones in the sense that
they involve
enterprises of great
scope and that he be
opposed by seemingly
insurmountable odds.
The greater the forces
aligned against him,
the greater is his
accomplishment.

7. Epic Devices and Motifs
• Foreshadowing of events through prophecy
• Visions of the future allowed to the hero
• The visit to the underworld
• The journey
• The supernatural weapons of the hero
• The individual combat
• The visit with the gods.
• The invocation of the muse
• The statement of the epic purpose
• Orations before events
• Verbal contests
• Descriptions of warfare in general and of specific
battles
• The intervention of supernatural characters

8. Diction in the Epic
• 1. Dignified and majestic language
• 2. Poetic—rhythmic, melodious – MUCH
Figurative Language is used
• 3. Formal speech by characters before big
events
• 4. Epic similes can be found throughout
• 5 Static epithets are used throughout
• 6. Words were meant to be spoken by a
bard/storyteller...heard by audience (not
read silently)

9. Genre Classification
• The Iliad and The Odyssey are considered
folk epics, because they seem to be
compilations of scattered legendary
material, rather than the conscious literary
production of one author.
• A skillful master of poetry has molded them
into a unified whole, but rather as a naïve
story-teller than as a man of letters setting
out to create an epic.
• The master story-teller is believed to be the
legendary bard, blind Homer.

10. Genre Classification
• The Iliad and The Odyssey are considered
folk epics, because they seem to be
compilations of scattered legendary
material, rather than the conscious literary
production of one author.
• A skillful master of poetry has molded them
into a unified whole, but rather as a naïve
story-teller than as a man of letters setting
out to create an epic.
• The master story-teller is believed to be the
legendary bard, blind Homer.