In poetry, an epic is a long story poem that usually describes the amazing actions of special characters. These characters often interact with gods or other powerful beings, helping to create the world for future generations. In oral traditions, epic poems use formal language and are often memorized exactly, unlike stories that use everyday language and are divided into "factual" or fictional categories. Factual stories are less likely to change over time.
Important epics that have influenced Western literature and culture include Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, Virgil's Aeneid, and the unknown author's Beowulf. This genre has inspired the word "epic" and led to similar works in other forms of media, such as movies, that try to copy the style and themes of epics.
Etymology
The English word "epic" is derived from the Latin word "epicus," which comes from the Ancient Greek adjective "epikos" (ἐπικός), itself from the Greek word "epos" (ἔπος), meaning "word, story, poem."
In Ancient Greek, the term "epic" described all poetry written in dactylic hexameter (epea), a specific type of poetic meter. This included works by Homer, the wisdom poetry of Hesiod, the sayings of the Delphic oracle, and the unusual religious verses linked to Orpheus. However, over time, the definition of "epic" became more limited, focusing only on heroic epic, as explained in this article.
Overview
Primary epics, such as those written by Homer, were created before writing was invented. These stories were made by bards, who used special speaking and rhythm patterns to remember the stories passed down through tradition. During their performances, bards could also add new parts to the stories. Later writers, such as Virgil, Apollonius of Rhodes, Dante, Camões, and Milton, used Homer's style and themes but relied on tools only writers could use, like paper and pens.
The oldest epic recognized is the Epic of Gilgamesh, which was recorded in ancient Sumer during the Neo-Sumerian Empire around 2500 to 1300 BCE. The poem describes the adventures of Gilgamesh, the king of Uruk. Although Gilgamesh was a real person, the version of him in the epic is mostly legendary or mythical.
The longest written epic from ancient times is the Mahabharata from ancient India, which was written between the 3rd century BCE and the 3rd century CE. It contains about 100,000 verses and over 200,000 lines of poetry. It also includes long prose sections. At about 1.8 million words, it is roughly twice as long as the Shahnameh, four times longer than the Rāmāyaṇa, and ten times longer than the Iliad and Odyssey combined.
Famous examples of epic poetry include the Epic of Gilgamesh from Sumer, the Mahabharata and Rāmāyaṇa from India in Sanskrit, Silappatikaram and Manimekalai in Tamil, the Shahnameh from Persia, the Odyssey and Iliad from Ancient Greece, Aeneid by Virgil, Beowulf from Old English, Divine Comedy by Dante, Kalevala from Finland, Nibelungenlied from Germany, Song of Roland from France, Cantar de mio Cid from Spain, Os Lusíadas from Portugal, Daredevils of Sassoun from Armenia, The Tale of Igor's Campaign from Old Russia, Paradise Lost by John Milton, The Secret History of the Mongols, Manas from Kyrgyzstan, and Sundiata from Mali. Modern examples include Omeros by Derek Walcott, The Levant by Mircea Cărtărescu, and Pan Tadeusz by Adam Mickiewicz. Paterson by William Carlos Williams, published in five volumes from 1946 to 1958, was partly inspired by The Cantos by Ezra Pound.
Oral epics
The first epics came from societies that did not use writing and relied on spoken traditions to share stories. These traditions helped spread culture by passing poems from person to person through speech alone. In these traditions, poems were shared without being written down. In the early 1900s, scholars Milman Parry and Albert Lord studied living oral traditions in the Balkans. Their research showed that oral epics were often made up of short, equal parts, each with the same importance. This structure made it easier for people to remember the stories, as each part could be recalled one after another to build the full epic during performances. Parry and Lord also believed that the written versions of Homer’s epics likely came from someone who heard an oral performance and then wrote it down.
Parry and Lord argued that Homer’s epics, which are the first major works in Western literature, were originally created as oral poems. These works became the foundation for the epic genre in Western literature. Most Western epics, such as Virgil’s Aeneid and Dante’s Divine Comedy, intentionally show they are part of the same tradition started by Homer’s poems.
Composition and conventions
In his work Poetics, Aristotle describes an epic as a type of poetry, different from lyric poetry and drama (like tragedy and comedy).
Epic poetry and tragedy both show characters who are noble or important. They differ because epic poetry uses only one kind of meter and tells a story. They also differ in length: tragedy tries to focus on a single day, while epic poetry has no time limits. This is another difference, even though both once had similar freedom in length.
Some parts of epic and tragedy are the same, while others are unique to tragedy. Anyone who understands what makes a good or bad tragedy also understands epic poetry. All the parts of an epic poem are found in tragedy, but not all parts of tragedy are in an epic poem.
— Aristotle, Poetics Part V
Harmon and Holman (1999) describe an epic as a long story that includes a hero on a journey, faces challenges, and returns changed. The hero shows traits and actions that reflect the values of their culture. Many epic heroes appear in stories from their culture’s traditions.
In the Indian mahākāvya genre, stories focus more on description than on telling a plot. The traditional features of a mahākāvya include:
Classical epics often tell a story about a journey—either physical, like Odysseus in The Odyssey, or mental, like Achilles in The Iliad. Epics also highlight cultural values and question what is considered heroic.
At the beginning of an epic, the poet may ask a Muse or other god for help telling the story. Examples of this include:
"Sing, goddess, of the wrath of Achilles, son of Peleus."
"Muse, tell me in verse of the man of many wiles."
"From the Heliconian Muses let us begin to sing."
"Beginning with thee, Oh Phoebus, I will recount the famous deeds of men of old."
"Sing, Heavenly Muse, that on the secret top of Oreb or Sinai didst inspire."
Another style, used by Virgil and others, starts with the phrase "I sing." Examples include:
"I sing arms and the man."
"I sing pious arms and their captain."
"I sing ladies, knights, arms, loves, courtesies, audacious deeds."
This style appears in Walt Whitman’s poem I Sing the Body Electric.
In the Kalevala, the opening lines say:
"Mastered by desire impulsive, by a mighty inward urging, I am ready now for singing, ready to begin the chanting of our nation’s ancient folk-song handed down from by-gone ages."
These traditions are mostly found in European culture and its followers. For example, The Epic of Gilgamesh or The Bhagavata Purana do not use these elements, nor do early medieval Western epics like The Song of Roland or The Poem of the Cid.
Epics often start "in the middle of things," showing the hero at their lowest point. Earlier parts of the story are usually shown through flashbacks. For example, The Iliad does not begin with the whole Trojan War but starts with Achilles’ anger. Similarly, Orlando Furioso continues a story from Orlando Innamorato, which assumes knowledge of earlier tales.
Epics include long lists of people, places, or objects, called enumeratio. These lists place the story’s events in a larger context, like the list of ships in The Iliad. These lists may also honor the ancestors of the audience.
In the Homeric tradition, epic style uses specific features like repetition and parallelism.
Many verse forms have been used in epics, but each language usually favors one or a few.
Ancient Sumerian epics used rhythm through repetition and parallelism, without consistent meter. Indo-European epics, like Greek and Latin ones, used strict meter. Greek epics used dactylic hexameter. Early Latin poets used Saturnian meter, but later poets used dactylic hexameter.
Some English poets, like Longfellow, used dactylic hexameter in poems like Evangeline.
Old English, German, and Norse poems used alliterative verse, without rhyme. An example is the Finnsburg Fragment:
"Ac on wacnigeað nū, wīgend mīne e alra ǣ rest e orðbūendra,
But awake now, my warriors, of all first the men."
Classical and Germanic epics used stichic forms, while Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese epics used stanzaic forms like terza rima or ottava rima. Terza rima uses a three-line rhyme pattern. An example is from Dante’s Divine Comedy:
"Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita (A) mi ritrovai per una selva oscura (B) ché la diritta via era smarrita. (A) Ahi quanto a dir qual era è cosa dura (B) esta selva selvaggia e aspra e forte (C) che nel pensier rinnova la paura! (B)"
Ottava rima uses a rhyme pattern of ABABABCC. An example is:
"Canto l'arme pietose, e 'l Capitano
Che 'l gran sepolcro liberò di Cristo.
Molto egli oprò col senno e con la mano;
Molto soffrì nel glorioso acquisto:
E invan l'Inferno a lui s'oppose; e invano
s'armò d'Asia e di Libia il popol misto:
Chè 'l Ciel gli diè favore, e sotto ai santi
Segni ridusse i suoi compagni erranti."
From the 14th century, English epics used heroic couplets and rhyme royal. In the 16th century, Spenserian stanza and blank verse were added. French epics used the alexandrine, while Polish epics used alexandrines with 7+6 syllables
Genres and related forms
The main type of epic, as discussed here, is the heroic epic. Examples include the Iliad and the Mahabharata. Ancient sources also recognized a didactic epic, which teaches lessons. Works like Hesiod's Works and Days and Lucretius's De rerum natura are examples of this type.
A related type of poetry is the epyllion (plural: epyllia), a short narrative poem with romantic or mythological themes. The word "epyllion" means "little epic" and was used in the nineteenth century. It mainly refers to short, scholarly poems written in a specific meter during ancient times and later in Rome. Some poems from the English Renaissance, especially those influenced by Ovid, are also included. One famous example is Catullus 64.
Epyllion is different from mock epic, which is a humorous or light-hearted form of storytelling.
Romantic epic is a term used for works like Morgante, Orlando Innamorato, Orlando Furioso, and Gerusalemme Liberata. These stories borrow characters, themes, and plot ideas from chivalric romance novels.
Long poems that do not fit the traditional European idea of heroic epic are sometimes called folk epics. Scholars like Lauri Honko, Brenda Beck, and John Smith have studied Indian folk epics. These stories are important for understanding the identities of communities.
In the Middle East and North Africa, the folk genre known as al-sira tells the story of the Hilālī tribe and their migrations. This is described in Bridget Connelly's work from 1986.
In India, folk epics show the caste system and the lives of people from lower castes, such as cobblers and shepherds. Some stories also feature strong women who choose their romantic partners. These ideas are discussed in a work by C.N. Ramachandran from 2002.
In Japan, traditional stories were sung by blind singers. One famous example is The Tale of the Heike, which tells about historical wars and was used in rituals to calm the spirits of the dead.
Africa has many types of epic stories. Some follow a clear, simple structure, while others are more circular and made up of separate events. The most famous African epic is the Epic of Sundiata from Mali. Some modern scholars argue that the difference between "epic" and "novel" is not always clear.
Another African epic is the Epic of Kelefaa Saane, which tells the story of a legendary warrior prince from the Kaabu kingdom in West Africa during the nineteenth century.
In southern China, people who grew rice sang long songs about the history of rice farming, rebel heroes, and love stories that broke social rules. In border areas of China, ethnic groups told heroic epics, such as the Epic of King Gesar from the Mongols and creation myths from the Yao people.