Epic Poetry
The long narrative poem of heroic action: invocation, in medias res, and a culture's founding story in verse.
Specifications & Metrics
- origin
- Ancient oral tradition (Mesopotamia, Greece, India)
- originator
- Anonymous oral poets (aoidoi, bards, rhapsodes)
- meter
- Dactylic hexameter (classical); alliterative long line (Germanic)
Core Principles & Analysis
- Classical epics open with an invocation and begin in medias res, mid-action.
- Oral-formulaic composition let pre-literate poets sustain thousands of lines.
- Homer, Virgil, and the Gilgamesh poet set the templates Western canon built on.
Sources