Notes on the Epic
With thanks to: Philip V. Allingham, Lakehead University of Canada
Primary or Folk Epic
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No single author (each is a product of the oral tradition)
Written down after centuries of oral transmission — e. g., Beowulf and the Iliad
General Characteristics
1. Primary epics were originally intended to be sung or recited to music: "Sing, Muse . . . ."
2. In primary epics, deities and other supernatural agencies are often involved in human affairs:
"What god was it . . . ?" asks Homer in the famous epic question that opens the Iliad.
3. The poem often has national interest and has a national bias: "and brought low the souls of so
many Acheans" (Iliad, Book I).
4. Primary epics seem generated by periods of upheaval, of struggle and adventure, such as the
Trojan War for Homer's epics and the Moslem invasion of Europe in the Song of Roland.
5. Often, the principal characters are larger-than-life demigods (descendants of deities) or heroes
of immense stature and strength. They represent such cultural ideals as endurance and cunning
(Odysseus), all-round virtue (Achilles), fair play and selflessness (Beowulf), or chivalric selfsacrifice (Roland).
6. Single combat is a common plot device; if the warriors are equals, such as Achilles and
Hector, they fight with sword and spear; if the adversaries are not equally heroic, as in the case
of Odysseus and the suitors, the protagonist may use lesser weapons such as a bow. The hero
often has a special weapon (e. g., Achilles' Pelian ash spear) or quality (e. g., Odysseus's ability
to adopt disguises).
7. The subject of the poem is announced in the opening lines, in an invocation (in which the poet
calls for divine assistance to tell his tale) and epic question in classical epics.
8. The true epic is long (the Iliad and the Odyssey each contain 24 books) and dignified (courtly
address and epithet are common).
9. Geographical and temporal settings are wide: the action of the Odyssey, for example, occurs
across all of the known world of the Greeks over a twenty-year period. However, the action may
be compressed into a matter of days (as in the case of the Iliad) or even hours (as in the case of
the Song of Roland).
10. Often great national issues are at stake (as the Greeks waged war on the Trojans).
Elements of the Epic Style
1. Repetition: directions and reports are repeated, later incidents seem to echo earlier incidents;
stock epithets are constantly applied to certain proper nouns such as "rosy-fingered Dawn" and
"horse-taming Hector." Names are symbolic: e. g., Odysseus = "Man of Woe," for he both gives
and receives suffering.
2. The Epic or Homeric Simile is a protracted comparison beginning with "like" or "as"; the
figure, loaded with description, often holds up the action at a crucial point to produce suspense.
There is a general absence of this device in Beowulf, but later English writers such as Milton and
Arnold have deliberately incorporated such protracted comparisons into their works to give them
weight and dignity.
3. Elevated, literary language is the norm - even servants speak in dignified verse.
4. Epic machinery includes bardic recapitulations (e. g., the Phaeacian poet Demodocus in the
Odyssey recounts the story of the Trojan Horse), a chief god's balancing the scales of fate, a long
and arduous journey for the hero, weapons of supernatural origin (such as Achilles' shield,
fashioned by Hephaestus, smith of the gods), a descent into the Underworld.
5. Epic conventions include the simile, the in-medias-res opening, the invocation, the epic
question, the epithet, the climactic confrontation between mighty adversaries, and hand-to-hand
combat; these were established by Homer and emulated by Virgil.
6. The action occurs in an heroic past, generations earlier, when deities freely interacted with
humans. The events of the poem permeate the national consciousness —everyone in the audience
already knows most of the details of the story.
7. In the time of Homer, emotions and great natural forces are personified as deities.
Characteristics of the Epic Hero
1. The hero is introduced in the midst of turmoil, at a point well into the story; antecedent action
will be recounted in flashbacks.
2. The hero is not only a warrior and a leader, but also a polished speaker who can address
councils of chieftains or elders with eloquence and confidence.
3. The hero, often a demi-god, possesses distinctive weapons of great size and power, often
heirlooms or presents from the gods.
4. The hero must undertake a long, perilous journey, often involving a descent into the
Underworld (Greek, "Neukeia"), which tests his endurance, courage, and cunning.
5. Although his fellows may be great warriors (like Achilles and Beowulf, he may have a
commitatus, or group of noble followers with whom he grew up), he undertakes a task that no
one else dare attempt.
6. Whatever virtues his race most prizes, the epic hero possesses these in abundance as a cultural
exemplar. His key quality is often emphasized by his stock epithet: "Resourceful Odysseus,"
"swift-footed Achilles," "pious Aeneas."
7. The concept of arete (Greek for "bringing virtue to perfection") is crucial to understanding the
epic protagonist.
8. The hero establishes his aristeia (nobility) through single combat in superari a superiore,
honour coming from being vanquished by a superior foe. That is, a hero gains little honour by
slaying a lesser mortal, but only by challenging heroes like himself or adversaries of superhuman
power.
9. The two great epic adversaries, the hero and his antagonist, meet at the climax, which must be
delayed as long as possible to sustain maximum interest.
10. The hero's epic adversary is often a "god-despiser," one who has more respect for his own
mental and physical abilities than for the power of the gods. The adversary might also be a good
man sponsored by lesser deities, or one whom the gods desert at a crucial moment.
Notes on Epic Poetry
An epic or heroic poem falls into one of two patterns, both established by Homer: the structure
(and allegory to life) may be either war or journey, and the hero may be on a quest (as Odysseus
is) or pursuing conquest (as Achilles is).
Features of legend building evident in epic include the following:
1. the hero's near-invulnerability (Achilles' heel, the spot on Seigfried's back);
2. the hero's fighting without conventional weapons (as in Beowulf's wrestling Grendel);
3. the hero's inglorious youth (again, Beowulf affords an example);
4. the hero's auspicious birth (for example, Christ's or Buddha's), an attempt at the reconstruction
of the early life of a notable adult (ex., stories of Jesus' childhood);
5. transference of the deeds and events associated with one hero to another of similar name (for
example, Saint Patrick and Sir Gawain). Such events would include the gods' arming a hero (a
metaphor for wondrous strength so great it must have seemed to have divine origins) and the
hero's descending to the Underworld (a metaphor for facing and overcoming death);
6. historical inclusiveness: the poem presents a whole culture in microcosm —although the
action is localized (for example, Troy and its environs in Homer's Iliad), flashbacks and inset
narratives widen the epic's geographical and chronological scope to include the whole of that
race's world and culture heroes;
7. the hero is a dramatic protagonist in each scene of a play (notice the emphasis on dialogue and
set speeches) that is too big for any stage.