Elements of Epic Poetry

Jul 26, 2010 Margaret Sauble

Beowulf Manuscript - Kip Wheeler

Examines some of the most common features of traditional epic poetry with examples from Beowulf,
Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, and Ovid's Metamorphoses.

Throughout the ages, storytellers and writers have regaled audiences with tales of men in extraordinary
situations overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds. In the greatest of these tales the men come to
be known as heroes and the work itself comes to be known as an epic poem. But what is it exactly that
makes a story an epic? Part of a long tradition, including both oral and written tales, there are a variety
of recurring features many epic poems share. Though no one work necessarily contains all the following
elements, they are nonetheless common denominators found throughout the genre.

Writing and Narration

Known as “in medias res” (meaning “in the middle of things”), the narration of an epic typically begins
after the action has already begun or the hero has set out on his journey. It’s the literary equivalent of
arriving late to the party and having to be brought up to speed with the drama still unfolding. One
commonly recognized example of this could be found in Homer’s Iliad, which begins with the Trojan War
already underway.

Another aspect of the epic is its tendency to take its characters all around the world, with action
unfolding across multiple countries and even continents. Homer’s Odyssey, for example, follows
Odysseus after the Trojan War. This journey of ten years takes our hero to numerous locations
throughout ancient Greece in his attempt to return home to Ithaca. Ovid’s Metamorphoses, for its part,
takes place up and down the entire known ancient world.

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Epics also made frequent use of epithets, a word or phrase used in place of or in conjunction with a
name. Because epics were typically written in poetic verse (hence the term “epic poem”) the use of
epithets helped the flow of the poem and allowed lines to follow the proper meter. Homer was well
known for his use of epithets in the Iliad and the Odyssey, referring often to “gray-eyed Athena” or
“swift-footed Achilles.”

Catalogues and detailed descriptions are also integral parts of epic poetry, both of which are found in
nearly all the most famous works. Cataloguing refers to authors compiling long lists within the piece,
such as by naming all the warriors in a regiment or all the trees in a specific forest. In the case of
detailed descriptions, an author can go on for pages describing anything from warriors’ armor or the
architecture of buildings to artwork and wall tapestries. This is commonly known as “ekphrasis” and
refers to something in a story, typically a piece of art, being described in exacting detail, such as Ovid’s
description of the door to Apollo’s house in Book II of his Metamorphoses.

Finally, authors of epic works typically included long, formal speeches by the heroes, often in the form of
an issued challenge or customary bragging. These speeches were a means of establishing the bravery
and heroism of the character by showcasing their deeds and abilities. In Beowulf, for example, the titular
hero engages in a war of words with another character; he and Unferth verbally spar, each attempting to
one-up the other by boasting of his own accomplishments while taking digs at his opponent.
 Characters and Action

Characters in epics were typically written with the positive qualities that people of the time held in high
esteem. Though there could often be numerous “heroic” characters, one individual generally stood out
as THE hero with most of the action centering on or relating back to him. His actions concerned deeds
of great valor and he was often tested throughout the course of the work, a common test being a hero’s
descent and subsequent return from the Underworld. Looking again to Beowulf, the hero descends into
a lake to battle Grendel’s mother in an underwater cavern in what could be interpreted as an early form
of an “Underworld” descent test.

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Epics in the Greek tradition also tended to include instances of the gods directing or participating in the
action of the story. Practically every epic has numerous examples of gods interfering in the lives of
mortals, oftentimes with the entire plot of the tale relating directly back to the initial actions (and
continual intervention) of the gods.

Lastly, battles and contests were as common as the speeches and boasts that typically preceded them.
Whether taking the form of large-scale wars, one-on-one fights, or competitions, these bouts were a
means of furthering the action and adding to both the characters that participated in them and the
storyline as a whole. From the Trojan War itself in Homer’sIliad to the tale of Atalanta and the golden
apples in Book X of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, epics are ripe with examples of heroes engaged in all
manner of conflicts.

The Epic Legacy

Beowulf, the Odyssey, and even Ovid’s mock-epic the  Metamorphoses, to name but a few, all contain
at least some of the elements discussed above. These enduring tales are considered classics and
regarded as some of the greatest works of their time. With their honorable heroes who journeyed across
nations and battled mightily for honor and love, they each fall squarely into the epic tradition.

Sources

Heaney, Seamus. Beowulf: a New Verse Translation. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2000.

Homer, and Rodney Merrill. The Iliad. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 2007.

Homer, Rodney Merrill, and Thomas R. Walsh. The Odyssey. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 2002.

Ovid, and Rolfe Humphries. Metamorphoses. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1955.

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