Epic Poetry
By: Alison Cameron, Brandon
Wheeler, Axel Lichtenberg, Dylan
Kert, Krista King
What is an Epic Poem?
• A long narrative poem on a great and
serious subject, related in an elevated
style, and centered on a heroic or quasidivine figure on whose actions depends
the fate of a tribe, a nation, or the human
race. The traditional epics were shaped by
a literary artist from historical and
legendary materials which had developed
in the oral traditions of his nation during a
period of expansion and warfare
Vocabulary Defined
• Quasi-divine – Having qualities of a God
(like a demigod)
Epic Poem Structure
• No rhyme scheme or rhyme structure
• Can be written in prose (no form)
Steps to Writing an Epic Poem
• STEP 1: Write a brief statement of the poem's
purpose before you begin recounting the story say, to detail your dog Champ's heroic crusade
against backyard birds - followed by an
invocation of the Muse.
STEP 2: Give a short, general outline of the
action of the poem in the statement of the
poem's purpose.
Steps Continued
• STEP 3: Choose a particularly heroic event in the hero's
life at which to start. This will be the main action of your
poem.
STEP 4: Begin the narrative by employing "in medias
res" or "framework" narrative. Literally meaning "into the
midst of things," this is a poetic convention in which the
narrative begins in the middle of the main action and
earlier events are retold through flashbacks. The past
actions thus form a framework centering around the
main action.
Steps Still Continued
• STEP 5: Confront your hero with dangerous
monsters and other incredible adventures.
Include vivid and explicit descriptions of warfare
(particularly weapons and combat).
STEP 6: Use the supernatural to get your
protagonist out of tough situations. If your hero
or heroine is in a no-win situation, simply send in
a god or goddess to help out at the last moment
Famous Authors
•
•
•
•
•
Homer
Ovid
John Milton
Lord Byron
Virgil
Samples
• “You will certainly not be able to take the
lead in all things yourself, for to one man a
god has given deeds of war, and to
another the dance, to another lyre and
song, and in another wide-sounding Zeus
puts a good mind.” – The Iliad by Homer
Samples Continued
• “Under that king were the centuries they
call golden; so it was he ruled the peoples
in calm and peace, until gradually there
came in its place a worse age, tarnished,
and the fury of war and love of wealth.” –
Foundational Paradigm by Homer
Original Idea
The Planet shook with anger, fire burst out of the
ground and engulfed the surface. My team and I
never thought that this mission would become
like this. A few hours ago the Nova Team was
selected to go on a demolition mission on the
planet Trilin and destroy a old UNSC compound.
My team and I agreed to the job and started off
to the drop pod hanger…
Works Citied
"Thread: The Epic Poem Method." Creative Writing
Forums. Web. 30 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.writingforums.org/showthread.php?t=3123>.
http://homepage.mac.com/mseffie/assignments/beowulf/epi
c.html
"Top 10 Greatest Epic Poems." Listverse. Web. 30 Apr.
2012. <http://listverse.com/2008/07/06/top-10-greatestepic-poems/>.
"Quotations by Author." Homer Quotes. Web. 30 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Homer>.
http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/samples/cam033/00033712.pdf