Epic Poetry: Difference between revisions

no edit summary
No edit summary
No edit summary
Line 34: Line 34:


The christian epic carries the same themes into a wide archetypal context; the action of the ''Bible'' includes the themes of the three great classical epics: theme of destruction and captivity of the city (Troy) in the ''Iliad''; the theme of the return in the ''Odyssey''; the theme of building a new city in the ''Aeneid''. Adam is like Achilles, Odysseus, and Aeneas — a man of wrath, exiled from home because he angered God by going beyond his limit as a man. A provocation against God is the eating of food reserved for the deity. As with Odysseus, Adam’s return home is contingent on appeasing of divine wrath by divine wisdom.
The christian epic carries the same themes into a wide archetypal context; the action of the ''Bible'' includes the themes of the three great classical epics: theme of destruction and captivity of the city (Troy) in the ''Iliad''; the theme of the return in the ''Odyssey''; the theme of building a new city in the ''Aeneid''. Adam is like Achilles, Odysseus, and Aeneas — a man of wrath, exiled from home because he angered God by going beyond his limit as a man. A provocation against God is the eating of food reserved for the deity. As with Odysseus, Adam’s return home is contingent on appeasing of divine wrath by divine wisdom.
== Actions ==
Actions appropriate to the epic include:
* Deeds of heroes like Beowulf, Gilgamesh, Prometheus
* Battles against great odds, like Roland
* Wars between individual heroes as in the ''Iliad''
* Real voyages as in the ''Odyssey''; or allegorical voyages through a different terrain as in the ''Divine Comedy'''
* Initiation of great enterprises, as the founding of a new city in the ''Aeneid''
* The performing of exploits, great and important; admirable actions accompanied by difficulty, temptations, and danger