2010
INCRESCUNT
OMNES,
VIRESCIT
VOLNERE
VIRTUS.
FREE
EPIC POEM
BEOWULF
The Cyclops and Odysseus
A CULTURE OFTEN EMBODIES
ITS VALUES IN THE HEROES IT
PROMOTES; THE HERO THEN
TRANSMITS THOSE IDEALS TO A
COMMON POPULACE.
Badass Beowulf et. al. promote heroic ideals for their time...
Whether they are named Sun Wukong
(eventually Goku), Beowulf, Gilgamesh,
Maui, Siegfried, Odysseus, Achilles,
Minamoto-no-Yoshitsune, the ancient epic
heroes resonate in the cultural imagination
via the largely oral tradition of the EPIC
POEM. By definition, an epic poem is a
long-form narrative poem that VALORIZES
and EXTOLS the virtues of a single hero,
thereby PRESERVING and PROMOTING
the cultural values common to that hero.
The genre is characterized by outlandish
and bombastic language (overdone style)
and possesses other vital components:
3. vast setting, beyond nation, time, world,
universe;
1. invocatio: opens often praising some muse
or anthropomorphized entity;
6. possesses long and polished speeches;
4. explains the theme right away (thesis);
5. has long genealogical lists;
2. in medias res (in the middle of things);
GILGAMESH OF URUK
SIEGFRIED/BRUNHILDE
MAUI THE DEMIGOD
INVOCATIO
page 2., continued...
7. often depicts the direct interplay of gods and
humans or the direct intervention of Gods
affecting human lives; (e.g. all the Greek gods
picking sides in the Trojan War)
8. uses epithets, common stock phrases that often
feature an adjectival phrase: a noun that has
several adjectives describing it, for example,
Odysseus
white-armed Andromache
fair-haired Menelaus
swift-footed Achilles
bright-eyed Athena (the Iliad)
Kennings in Beowulf:
KENNING MEANING
•
Light-of-battle (sword)
•
Battle-sweat (blood)
•
whale-road (ocean)
•
shepherd-of-evil (Grendel)
•
raven-harvest (corpse)
•
sleep-of-the-sword (death)
(Beowulf)
9. features heroes that embody the cultural and
social values of that civilization, often at the expense
of other civilizations and world-views.
THE FORMAL LATIN CONVENTIONS:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Praepositio: Opens by stating the theme or
cause of the epic. This may take the form of
a purpose (as in Milton, who proposed "to
justify the ways of God to men"); of a
question (as in the Iliad, where Homer asks
the Muse which god it was who caused the
war); or of a situation (as in the Song of
Roland, with Charlemagne in Spain).
Invocation: Writer invokes a Muse, one of the
nine daughters of Zeus. The poet prays to
the Muses to provide him with divine
inspiration to tell the story of a great hero.
(This convention is obviously restricted to
cultures which were influenced by European
Classical culture: the Epic of Gilgamesh, for
example, or the Bhagavata Purana would
obviously not contain this element)
In medias res: narrative opens "in the middle
of things", with the hero at his lowest point.
Usually flashbacks show earlier portions of
the story.
Enumeratio: Catalogues and genealogies are
given. These long lists of objects, places, and
people place the finite action of the epic
within a broader, universal context. Often,
the poet is also paying homage to the
ancestors of audience members.
Epithet: Heavy use of repetition or stock
phrases: e.g., Homer's "rosy-fingered dawn"
and "wine-dark sea." (“Epic_poetry”)
Tell me, O muse, of that ingenious
hero who travelled far and wide
after he had sacked the famous
town of Troy. Many cities did he visit,
and many were the nations with
whose manners and customs he was
acquainted; moreover he suffered
much by sea while trying to save his
own life and bring his men safely
home; but do what he might he
could not save his men, for they
perished through their own sheer
folly in eating the cattle of the Sungod Hyperion; so the god prevented
them from ever reaching home. Tell
me, too, about all these things, O
daughter of Jove, from whatsoever
source you may know them.
PRAEPOSITIO
Achilles
Sing, O goddess, the anger of Achilles son of Peleus, that brought
countless ills upon the Achaeans. Many a brave soul did it send hurrying
down to Hades, and many a hero did it yield a prey to dogs and vultures,
for so were the counsels of Jove fulfilled from the day on which the son of
Atreus, king of men, and great Achilles, first fell out with one another.
And which of the gods was it that set them on to quarrel? It was the son
of Jove and Leto; for he was angry with the king and sent a pestilence
upon the host to plague the people, because the son of Atreus had
dishonoured Chryses his priest. Now Chryses had come to the ships of
the Achaeans to free his daughter, and had brought with him a great
ransom: moreover he bore in his hand the sceptre of Apollo wreathed
with a suppliant's wreath and he besought the Achaeans, but most of all
the two sons of Atreus, who were their chiefs.
IN MEDIAS RES
NOW Beowulf bode in the burg of the Scyldings,
leader beloved, and long he ruled
in fame with all folk, since his father had gone
away from the world, till awoke an heir,
haughty Healfdene, who held through life,
sage and sturdy, the Scyldings glad.
Then, one after one, there woke to him,
to the chieftain of clansmen, children four:
Heorogar, then Hrothgar, then Halga brave;
and I heard that -- was --'s queen,
the Heathoscylfing's helpmate dear.
To Hrothgar was given such glory of war,
such honor of combat, that all his kin
obeyed him gladly till great grew his band
of youthful comrades. It came in his mind
to bid his henchmen a hall uprear,
a master mead-house, mightier far
than ever was seen by the sons of earth,
and within it, then, to old and young
he would all allot that the Lord had sent him,
save only the land and the lives of his men.