compuvef.blogg.se - Epic poem

Not only must he fend off the malevolence of gods and the seduction of Calypso, but he must also get home before the suitors coerce his wife into marriage. The Odyssey, on the other hand, follows the warrior Odysseus as he tries to find his way home from Troy across the Peloponnesian sea. The Homeric Poems – The Odyssey (~800 BCE) Many common phrases have their origin in this poem, including the hero’s vulnerable “Achilles’ Heel”, as well as the famous symbol of deception, “the trojan horse”, the receptacle used to bring the soldiers into the Trojan stronghold.ģ. While there is some involvement from the gods, it is again the human factor that is much more significant, as the leader’s fateful spar with Hector is both a celebration of military heroism and a mournful ode to the losses of battle. Sparked by the taking of Helen from Sparta, the Greeks, lead by Achilles, advance towards Troy to destroy their adversary. Although it was written about 4000 years ago, critics have argued that it is a particularly humanistic work, as the demi-gods’ desire adventure and pleasure over ruthlessĢ.The Homeric Poems – The Iliad (~800 BCE)įew details are known about who Homer actually was, but the poet’s (or poets’) identity is surely peripheral compared to the impact these two texts have had on Western Civilization. As a young god-king in the poem, Gilgamesh’s arrogant practices trouble the populace until Enkidu, a wildman created by a goddess, challenges the monarch’s power. Based on the actual Assyrian king, Gilgamesh confronts many of the themes that Homer will tackle in his epic poetry: the human/deity divide, mortality, seduction, legacy. It is not surprising that even the oldest known work of literature in the world is an epic poem written on the grandest of scales.

Here is a list of 20 of the greatest Epic poems in the tradition:

Many will feature the might of armies in long digressions featuring weaponry and war games.

There are grand battle-scenes punctuated by extended similes, ambitious analogies that stretch the imagination but strive for literary glory.

There are many journeys into the underworld.

Many of these begin in medias res, in the middle of the story, and may digress into the past later on in the poem.

These poets plea to the gods at the very beginning to grant them the power to tell these stories with a certain forcefulness, though some admittedly pretend to do so to claim they are divinely empowered. Here are a few recurring patterns to keep in mind when considering these texts: By combining elevated language with war, betrayal, romance, adventure, and a whole lot of reflection, these twenty lengthy tomes have captured the essence of whole peoples in single (albeit gigantic) works, ranging from semi-fictional accounts of war to satirical mockeries of misguided heroism.Įpic poetry–or heroic poetry, as some of the medieval poets have called it–follows a certain time-tested formula to portray such grand representations of heroes and their followers. Get yours todayįew have better expressed the tumultuous rise and fall of civilizations better than the great Epic poets of ancient and modern times.