Help writing an epic poem

In literature, an epic is a long narrative poemwhich is usually related to heroic deeds of a person of an unusual courage and unparalleled bravery. In order to depict this bravery and courage, the epic uses grandiose style. The hero is usually the representative of the values of a certain culture, race, nation or a religious group on whose victor of failure the destiny of the whole nation or group depends. Therefore, certain supernatural forces, deus ex machinahelp the hero, who comes out victor at the end.

After the formative period of the Vedic age, literature moved in several different directions. The close of the Vedic period was one of great cultural renewal, with the founding of the new monastic religions of Buddhism and Jainism… General characteristics An epic may deal with such various subjects as mythsheroic legendshistories, edifying religious tales, animal stories, or philosophical or moral theories.

Epic poetry has been and continues to be used by peoples all over the world to transmit their traditions from one generation to another, without the aid of writing.

These traditions frequently consist of legendary narratives about the glorious deeds of their national heroes. Such ages have been experienced by many nations, usually at a stage of development in which they have had to struggle for a national identity.

This effort, combined with such other conditions as an adequate material culture and a sufficiently productive economy, tend to produce a society dominated by a powerful and warlike nobility, constantly occupied with martial activities, whose individual members seek, above all, everlasting fame for themselves and for their lineages.

Uses of the epic The main function of poetry in heroic-age society appears to be to stir the spirit of the warriors to heroic actions by praising their exploits and those of their illustrious ancestors, by assuring a long and glorious recollection of their fame, and by supplying them with models of ideal heroic behaviour.

One of the favourite pastimes of the nobility in heroic ages in different times and places has been to gather in banquet halls to hear heroic songs, in praise of famous deeds sung by professional singers as well as by the warriors themselves.

Heroic songs also were often sung before a battle, and such recitations had tremendous effect on the morale of the combatants. Among the Fulani Fulbe people in the Sudan, for instance, whose epic poetry has been recorded, a nobleman customarily set out in quest of adventures accompanied by a singer mabowho also served as his shield bearer.

The singer was thus the witness of the heroic deeds of his lord, which he celebrated in an epic poem called baudi. The aristocratic warriors of the heroic ages were thus members of an illustrious family, a link in a long chain of glorious heroes.

And the chain could snap if the warrior failed to preserve the honour of the family, whereas, by earning fame through his own heroism, he could give it new lustre. Epic traditions were to a large extent the traditions of the aristocratic families: The passing of a heroic age does not necessarily mean the end of its heroic oral poetry.

An oral epic tradition usually continues for as long as the nation remains largely illiterate. Usually it is after the heroic age has passed that the narratives about its legendary heroes are fully elaborated.

Even when the nobility that originally created the heroic epic perishes or loses interest, the old songs can persist as entertainments among the people. Court singers, then, are replaced by popular singers, who recite at public gatherings.

This popular tradition, however, must be distinguished from a tradition that still forms an integral part of the culture of a nobility.

Uses of the epic

For when a heroic epic loses its contact with the banquet halls of the princes and noblemen, it cannot preserve for long its power of renewal. Soon it enters what has been called the reproductive stage in the life cycle of an oral tradition, in which the bards become noncreative reproducers of songs learned from older singers.

Popular oral singers, like the guslari of the Balkans, no doubt vary their songs to a certain extent each time they recite them, but they do so mainly by transposing language and minor episodes from one acquired song to another. Such variations must not be confounded with the real enrichment of the tradition by succeeding generations of genuine oral poets of the creative stage.

The spread of literacy, which has a disastrous effect on the oral singer, brings about a quick corruption of the tradition. At this degenerate stage, the oral epic soon dies out if it is not written down or recorded.Today’s Poem Outside Times Ten and One Within by Blanca Castellón • from Free Verse Featured Poet Blanca Castellón Blanca Castellón is a Nicaraguan poet whose books include Cactus Body (a bilingual chapbook; Cold Hub Press, ), Water For Days Of Thirst (a bilingual English/Spanish selection; Cold Hub Press, ,) and Los Moridores () among others.

Epic Poems | Examples of Epic Poetry. Epic Poems. Examples of Epics and a list of poems in the correct poetic form and technique.

Later variations

Share and read Epic poetry while accessing rules, topics, ideas, and a comprehensive literary definition of an Epic. The Purdue Writing Lab Purdue University students, faculty, and staff at our West Lafayette, IN campus may access this area for information on the award-winning Purdue Writing Lab.

This area includes Writing Lab hours, services, and contact information. An Old Babylonian Version of the Gilgamesh Epic (Illustrated Edition) (Dodo Press) [Morris Jr. Jastrow, Albert T. Clay] on regardbouddhiste.com *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers.

The Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem from Ancient Mesopotamia and is among the earliest known works of literary fiction. Scholars believe that it originated as a series of Sumerian legends and poems about the mythological.

Epic Poem Traditionally, an epic poem is a long, serious, poetic narrative about a significant event, often featuring a hero. Before the development of writing, epic poems were memorized and played an important part in maintaining a record of the great deeds and history of a culture.

Sep 06,  · How to Write a Poem. Writing a poem is all about observing the world within or around you. A poem can be about anything, from love to loss to the rusty gate at the old farm%().