Brandon Weborg 10/22/13 English Ms.

Lonsdale Genre Profile For my unfamiliar genre project I chose to study epic poems. Ive had minimal experience with this genre, only reading 3 pieces Beowulf, The Epic Of Gilgamesh and The Divine Comedy. It was and has been a style of writing that captivates me, so I figured it would be a great choice for this project. It is one of the oldest forms of literature ever with a massive history and contributing some of the greatest works of all time.The genre itself is for the most part no longer used. Its most popular works being published anywhere from 500 AD to 1500 AD. With only one or two notable works being published after these dates. An epic poem is a lengthy poem/story typically telling the story of a hero and or heroes on a journey to overcome some kind of extreme adversity. The first epic poem The epic of Gilgamesh originated from Mesopotamia although some of the most famous epic poems traditionally came from the Greek. However several other notable epics were written in latin and several other more modern languages. Epic Poems were Originally intended to be recited in front of a large audience by a trained narrator. In modern day literature epic poems seem to usually consist of groups of short stories that are tied together with a major central theme.

An epic poem typically opens with invocation to a muse in which the author asks for help writing the epic of asking the muse to speak through him/her. The story itself usually revolves around a hero who must accomplish an almost impossible task with help from the supernatural or divine intervention. They span large countries or even sometimes the whole world in this way they can have many scenes showing different events and really give the feeling of a truly epic adventure. The stories tend to define the culture of the place or time period that they were written in, This can be done with either the setting and time of the poem or through the characteristics of the heroes themselves. During the adventure of the hero they are almost always helped by some kind of mythological power or by divine intervention itself, this help is almost always necessary in helping the hero in a way that without the help he would have failed. One of the other most notable characteristics is the fact that more often than not the hero of the poem either dies or is sent to some kind of hellish underworld. This is usually due to the fact that while most Epic heroes show extraordinary bravery and skills almost all fall victim to a fatal flaw typically being their own hubris. The earliest origins of epic poems come from ancient societies that used these poems as a way to retell stories and deeds of heroes in their societies. The first published epic poem and first work of literature ever was The Epic of Gilgamesh. The story of Gilgamesh focuses on Gilgamesh who is the king of the city of Uruk. Gilgamesh proves to be a fairly unjust ruler so the gods create Enkindu. A friend for Gilgamesh to have and to distract him from oppressing the city. This plan goes awry when Gilgamesh and Enkindu together journey and slay Heavens Bull. This angers the gods who in turn choose to kill Enkindu as a punishment. After Enkindus Death Gilgamesh decides that he must find the secret to eternal life. This leads Gilgamesh on an

epic journey to in the end find out that eternal life was not intended for humans. Other notable epics of this time include the two Hindu stories Mahabharata and Ramayana Bo th of which helped establish the foundations for the Hindu religion. From 800BC until the first century however was the period in which most of the more historically important epics were created. Of these include the Greek Works of Homer. Homers Iliad and Odyssey are typically referred to as the greatest works of the epic poem genre and even some of the most important literature ever. The Iliad focuses on several weeks in the final year of the siege of the city of troy in which the Greek war heroes Achilles, Agamemnon and Odysseus. The majority of the story revolves around a feud between Achilles and Agamemnon which results in Achilles refusing to fight against the Trojans. This changes after Achilles friend is slain. Achilles eventually ventures out in search of revenge only to be killed. The Iliad is considered to have a sequel, the much more famous Odyssey. The Odyssey focuses on the story of Odysseus who gets lost at sea on his journey home after the battle of troy. The Journey from troy back to his home takes Odysseus through many challenges and takes him ten yeard time to complete. On his arrival home he finds out that he has been presumed dead and must fight off the many suitors who have trying to arrange marriages with his wife. Together these two epic poems set what would be a general basis for almost all epic poems to come after them. Eventually the tradition of epic poems began to spread across nations and many different languages. The first major poem in any kind on English came in the form of the tale of Beowulf Which was written in old English. The story was written by an Anglo Saxon author of

unknown origin. The story tells of the great Scandinavian War hero Beowulf Who comes to help Hroogar whose town and mead hall have come under attack of the monster Grendel. Beowulf and his man stay and fight the monster, Slaying Grendels mother in the process as well. Beowulf is named a king and rules for 50 years until he eventually is fatally wounded in a battle with a dragon. As time went on Epic Poems began to transition from records of great deeds and heroes to stories with political connotations and hidden religious meanings. While they kept almost all of the similar styles of the ancient poems before them the Epics of The dark ages and renaissance showed significant change and also a decline in how many were published. However in the early 14th century one of the last great epic poems was created, Dante Alighieris Divina Commedia (Divine Comedy). Written in Latin and using a more traditional rhyme scheme of the time the story tells of Dantes travels through the nine circles of hell, purgatory and eventually heaven itself. This work is referred to as a comedy due to its satirical nature in which Dante represented political opponents and corrupt official of the church that he knew from his personal life in Italy. The Divine Comedy is Considered the greatest of the more modern Epic Poems. Today in the modern 21st century Epic Poems are few and even fewer are considered good. While many still try and recreate the old greek style of epic poems, most epic poems now are several combined short stories with an overall theme such as The Bridge By Hart Crane. The Bridge is no more than a collection of longer than usual poems with a central tying theme of bridges. While Epic Poems may not be as epic as they used to be they are still around and can still be considered great.

After Researching all I could about epic poems it came time for me to try my hand at writing my own. The hardest part of writing the poem was attempting to figure out a rhyme scheme. It seemed like most poems used a scheme that was overly complicated or impossible to recreate in modern day English. I decided to settle with the rhyme scheme used in Dantes Divine comedy called a Terza Rima. With my rhyme Scheme in place I decided that since I wasnt writing a full epic poem id simply recreate a small passage and try and give a feel for the genre. I ended up writing a small story of a Viking named Gunnr. Writing this was unlike anything Ive ever had to write before. Due to the rhyme scheme as simple as it was I found myself having to plan what I was going to say three or four lines in advance. However when I would finally get a line to match up in a way I liked it was a great sense of accomplishment. I did my best to incorporate as many elements of an epic story as I could in my small story. Still made all the more difficult having to build it around a scheme. All together writing this small epic poem was one of the coolest things Ive ever gotten a chance to write in my opinion. Overall for the project I am very glad I got to pick the epic poem genre. Its a amazing style of writing with such a vast history I found it almost hard condensing it into a paper of this size. I highly recommend that anyone should be able to learn more about this amazing genre.