The Epic
An epic is a long, formal, complex narrative poem that deals with the adventures of a
hero. Homer’s Odyssey and Iliad and Virgil’s Aeneid are the best-known epics in the
Western tradition. The two most important English epics are the Anglo-Saxon poem
Beowulf and John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Most epics possess some or all of the
following characteristics.
Epic Conventions
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Nationally or historically important episodes
Events and persons of legendary significance
A vast setting – a nation of the world
Deeds of valor and courage
A world changing event
God and demigods
The arming of the warrior/hero and battles
Ancestry of men and inanimate objects
Allusions to stories, science, history or cultural beliefs
Topical digressions
Epic similes
Epic epithets or kennings
Religious observances
Lives of the gods
Prophecy/omens, divine intervention
Descent into underworld
Elevated and majestic language and imagery
Oral or literary formulation
Begins in the middle, in medias res
Epic question
Wrath or guile
Invocations to the muse or goddess
Formal speeches and boasts (and Flyting - a contest consisting of the exchange of
insults, often conducted in verse, between two parties.)
Epic catalogs
Dark humor, wry wit
Telling a story with which readers or listeners may already be familiar
Fateful actions
Courageous deeds
Supernatural complications
Large-scale setting, long journey
Universal ideas: justice, honor, self-sacrifice
Told in the third person
Originally sung, often to a harp or lyre
Contain information about the culture it represents: religion, dress and ornament,
homes, weapons and war, roles of men and women, values, moral standards
Indicate what a culture feared or did not understand: natural disasters, natural
features
Epic Hero
Examples from pop culture? Superman, Hercules, Indiana Jones, Buffy the Vampire
Slayer, Luke Skywalker, Odysseus
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Of high position
On a quest for something of great value to him or his people
A great leader strongly identified with a particular people or society
A skilled fighter, travels to find adventure
Does great deeds in battle or undertakes an extraordinary journey
Possesses qualities or abilities beyond those of ordinary humans (superhuman);
admired by society
Often, son of a king/god or the circumstances of the hero’s birth are unusual
Upon reaching manhood, goes to a future kingdom and eventually becomes king
May reign for a long period of time and bestow gifts upon community
May be then driven from throne, power or city, meeting a mysterious death
Has “good” on his side; defeats monsters or evil forces
Is associated with “light” and strength and values
Often stands alone in battle
Has a weakness that often destroys him/her or leads to death (Is this point true of
Beowulf)?
Epic Poetry
Beowulf and older epics were passed down orally for centuries before being written
down. Oral traditions of poetry often employ certain elements that serve as memory aids
to recitation. These include:
1. Strong rhythm
2. Repetition of sounds
3. Repetition of words and phrases
4. Repetition of ideas
5. Parallel grammatical structures
Anglo-Saxon Literary Terms/Techniques
No one translation of Beowulf will foreground or even have all the poetic elements that
exist in the original Old English. A translation that tries to be true to the alliterative verse
may have done so by ignoring such features as compounding, formulas, and even
variation. Likewise, translations that try to represent the phrasing of Beowulf, and thereby
preserving a sense of the formulas and variation, will often have little or no alliteration.
Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of stressed sounds, particularly consonants
from the beginning of words or syllables. Poetically, alliteration can has a similar
function as rhyme. In Old English poetry, alliteration was a continual and essential part
of the metrical scheme. An example of alliteration can be found in such as poet Samuel
Taylor Coleridge's description of the sacred river Alph in his poem, Kubla Khan: "Five
miles meandering with a mazy motion."
Compounding: Old English poetry makes extensive use of compounding, the combining
of two words to make a new word. An example is feorhseoc, literally "life-sick" (feorh =
life, seoc = sick), which can be translated as mortally wounded. A more common
example can be found in the first line of Beowulf: Gar-Dena, literally "Spear-Danes"
(gar = spear, Dena = Danes). Compounding may be done to meet the needs of the
alliterative meter, as part of a formula, or to make a new word. (See kennings, below)
Formulas: Like Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, Beowulf makes use of stock phrases, known
as formulas. Formulas are believed to be ready-made phrases that fulfill the metrical
needs of a line or half-line, and are believed to be a standard tool of an oral poet. While
some scholars argue that the existence of formulas in a poem must mean the poem has its
origins as oral poetry, not everyone agrees with this belief. Extensive use of formulas
tends to give a poem a lofty and highly traditional character. Examples of formulas in
Beowulf are Gomban gyldan "pay tribute,” geong in geardum, "young in the courtyard,”
folce to frofre "as a comfort to the people.”
Variation: Another common stylistic feature of Old English poetry is the use of
variation, which is the restatement of a concept or term using different words. A simple
form of variation is “Beowulf spoke, the son of Ecgtheow.” Here the second half of the
line provides a second identifier for Beowulf. Variation reminds the audience of
important facts. Because the poet constantly reminds us that Beowulf is Ecgtheow’s son,
we are much more likely to remember who is when he is important to the poem.
Variation also allows the poet to present an event, or image from multiple perspectives,
each providing additional information or shedding new light on the events. Compare, for
example, Grendel's approach to Heorot, which is told three times in succession.
Versification: Beowulf, like all Old English poetry, is written in alliterative verse, a
verse form that uses alliteration as one of the major organizing principles of a poetic line.
While Shakespeare's poetry, often written in iambic pentameter, uses a syllabic meter (we
count the number of syllables), Old English alliterative verse uses an accentual meter of
four stressed beats and an undetermined number of unstressed beats per line. A typical
Old English alliterative line consists of two half-lines separated by a caesura. The
third stress of a line always alliterates with either the first and/or the second stress, and
the fourth stress never alliterates. In Old English alliterative verse, any vowel can
alliterate with any other vowel. (Rhyme is so rare in Old English poetry that the one
poem that does rhyme is known as "The Riming Poem.")
Caesura: Latin: "a cutting.” A strong break or pause in a line of poetry, dictated, usually,
by the natural rhythm of the language. In Old English verse the caesura was used to
indicate the half line.
Litotes: an ironic understatement, also a common feature of Old English poetry.
Pronounced "LIE-ta-tees." An example would be saying “not bad” to mean good, or
when the poet says in Beowulf, "That [sword] was not useless / to the warrior now."
Parataxis: lines marked by the juxtaposition of clauses or sentences, without the use of
connecting words: I'll go; you stay here. A paratactic style has the effect of abruptness,
because the relationship between one statement and the next is not made explicit.
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In parataxis, the main elements are placed in a sequence of simple phrases, linked
together by the conjunction and (or variations such as but). In hypotaxis, relations
are specified as subordinate clauses joined by temporal or relational links such as
when, although, after, etc.
Kennings
The term derives from the use of the Old Norse verb “kenna,” which means “to know,
recognize” (German – kennen) Kennings are a special form of compounding that are
metaphoric in meaning; they combine two words to create an evocative and imaginative
alternative word. A kenning is in essence a compact metaphor that functions as a name or
epithet; it is also, in its more complex forms, a riddle in miniature. By linking words in
this way, the poets were able to experiment with the rhythm, sounds and imagery of the
poetry. Beowulf contains over a thousand kennings.
The kenning banhus (ban + hus), literally "bone-house," refers to the human body;
hronrad (hron + rad), literally "whale's road," refers to the sea; and rodores candel,
literally "sky's candle," refers to the sun. A ship might be called a “sea-rider,” a king a
“ring-giver,” a “helmet bearer” a warrior, a “swan road” the sea.
Note: If it’s not a metaphor, it’s not a kenning – Grendel really is his mother’s only son,
so “his mother’s only son” is not a kenning.
What common objects might these kennings represent?
1. student holder
2. word writer
3. heat giver
4. world view
5. knowledge spouter
6. Arrow aimer
7. Dust terror
8. Scholar’s home
9. Humanity’s beverage
10. Car loaners
Make up 5 modern kennings that might be found in your room/home
Object
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5.
Kenning
Beowulf Translations
From Beowulf, translated by Burton Raffel (1963)
Out from the marsh, from the foot of misty
Hills and bogs, bearing God's hatred,
Grendel came, hoping to kill
Anyone he could trap on this trip to high Herot.
He moved quickly through the cloudy night,
Up from his swampland, sliding silently
Toward that gold-shining hall. He had visited Hrothgar's
Home before, knew the way—
But never, before nor after that night,
Found Herot defended so firmly, his reception
So harsh. He journeyed, forever joyless,
Straight to the door, then snapped it open,
Tore its iron fasteners with a touch
And he rushed angrily over the threshold.
He strode quickly across the inlaid
Floor, snarling and fierce: his eyes
Gleamed in the darkness, burned with a gruesome
Light. Then he stopped, seeing the hall
Crowded with sleeping warriors, stuffed
With rows of young soldiers resting together.
And his heart laughed, he relished the sight,
Intended to tear the life from those bodies
By morning; the monster's mind was hot
With the thought of food and the feasting his belly
Would soon know. But fate, that night, intended
Grendel to gnaw the broken bones
Of his last human supper.
from Beowulf: The Donaldson Translation, translated by E. Talbot Donaldson (1975)
Then from the moor under the mist-hills Grendel came walking, wearing God's anger.
The foul ravager thought to catch some one of mankind there in the high hall. Under the
clouds he moved until he could see most clearly the wine-hall, treasure-house of men,
shining with gold. That was not the first time that he had sought Hrothgar's home. Never
before or since in his life-days did he find harder luck, hardier hall-thanes. The creature
deprived of joy came walking to the hall. Quickly the door gave way, fastened with fireforged bands, when he touched it with his hands. Driven by evil desire, swollen with
rage, he tore it open, the hall's mouth. After that the foe at once stepped onto the shining
floor, advanced angrily. From his eyes came a light not fair, most like flame. He saw
many men in the hall, a band of kinsmen all asleep together, a company of war-men. then
his heart laughed: dreadful monster, he thought that before the day came he would divide
the life from the body of every one of them, for there had come to him a hope of fullfeasting. It was not his fate that when that night was over he should feast on more of
mankind.
from Beowulf: An Imitative Translation, translated by Ruth P. M. Lehmann (1988)
Then from the moorland
under misty hills
Grendel came gliding; God's wrath he bore.
That murderer meant there in the mighty hall
to seek to ensnare
some man or other.
He strode under stormclouds
till the stronghold loomed,
gleaming golden,
with gilded plating,
disclosed clearly.
He had come before
to maraud, ravage
Hrothgar’s home.
He had not found in life
before nor since
harder misfortune
then in the hall of Geats.
Then to the building came the brute wandering,
deprived of pleasure. Yet the portal gaped,
though fast with forged bands,
as he first touched it.
Angry he opened
the entrance to the building
with hateful purpose. Hurriedly crossing
the patterned pavement
the oppressor came
in fuming fury.
From the fiend's eyes shot
lurid light flashing
like lightning glare.
In the hall he beheld heroes in plenty
a cluster of kinsmen caught there sleeping,
huddled warriors.
Then his heart rejoiced;
the horrid hellfiend
hoped before daylight
to outrage each one, all flesh riven,
breath from body.
He was blindly sure
of his fill feasting.
But no further prey
would his lot allow
when this last night passed,
no more of mankind.
from Beowulf: A New Verse Translation, translated by Seamus Heaney (2000)
In off the moors, down through the mist bands
God-cursed Grendel came greedily loping.
The bane of the race of men roamed forth,
hunting for a prey in the high hall.
Under the cloud-murk he moved towards it
until it shone above him, a sheer keep
of fortified gold. Nor was that the first time
he had scouted the grounds of Hrothgar's dwelling—
although never in his life, before or since,
did he find harder fortune or hall-defenders.
Spurned and joyless, he journeyed on ahead
and arrived at the bawn. The iron-braced door
turned on its hinge when his hands touched it.
Then his rage boiled over, he ripped open
the mouth of the building, maddening for blood,
pacing the length of the patterned floor
with his loathsome tread, while a baleful light,
flame more than light, flared from his eyes.
He saw many men in the mansion, sleeping,
A ranked company of kinsmen and warriors
quartered together. And his glee was demonic,
picturing the mayhem: before morning
he would rip life from limb and devour them,
feed on their flesh; but his fate that night
was due to change, his days of ravening
had come to an end.
In "Junk" (1961), American poet Richard Wilbur uses the solemn, stately rhythms
of Anglo-Saxon alliterative-stress verse to lend honor and dignity to the essential
nature of the things that humans discard as trash. The trashiness of the items, the
poem insists, lies in the poor workmanship, not in the material itself.
An axe angles from my neighbor's ashcan;
It is hell's handiwork, the wood not hickory,
The flow of the grain not faithfully followed.
The shivered shaft rises from a shellheap
Of plastic playthings paper plates,
And the sheer shards of shattered tumblers
That were not annealed for the time needful.
At the same curbside, a cast-off cabinet
Of wavily warped unseasoned wood
Waits to be trundled in the trashman's truck.
Haul them off! Hide them! the heart winces
For junk and gimcrack for jerrybuilt things
And the men who make them for a little money,
Bartering pride like the bought boxer
Who pulls his punches, or the paid-off jockey
Who in the home-stretch holds in his horse. (1-12)
“Beowulf”
By Richard Wilbur
The land was overmuch like scenery,
The flowers attentive, the grass too garrulous green;
In the lake like a dropped kerchief could be seen
The lark's reflection after the lark was gone;
The Roman road lay paved too shiningly
For a road so many men had traveled on.
Also the people were strange, were strangely warm.
The king recalled the father of his guest,
The queen brought mead in a studded cup, the rest
Were kind, but in all was a vagueness and a strain,
Because they lived in a land of daily harm
And they said the same things again and again.
It was a childish country; and a child,
Grown monstrous, so besieged them in the night
That all their daytimes were a dream of fright
That it would come and own them to the bone.
The hero, to his battle reconciled,
Promised to meet that monster all alone.
So then the people wandered to their sleep
And left him standing in the echoed hall.
They heard the rafters rattle fit to fall,
The child departing with a broken groan,
And found their champion in a rest so deep
His head lay harder sealed than any stone.
The land was overmuch like scenery,
The lake gave up the lark, but now its song
Fell to no ear, the flowers too were wrong.
The day was fresh and pale and swiftly old,
The night put out no smiles upon the sea;
And the people were strange, the people strangely cold.
They gave him horse and harness, helmet and mail,
A jeweled shield, an ancient battle-sword,
Such gifts as are the hero's hard reward
And bid him do again what he has done.
These things he stowed beneath his parting sail,
And wept that he could share them with no son.
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He died in his own country a kinless king,
A name heavy with deeds, and mourned as one
Will mourn for the frozen year when it is done.
They buried him next the sea on a thrust of land;
Twelve men rode round his barrow all in a ring,
Singing of him what they could understand.
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