O epic genre it is structured in verses and stanzas. Its main feature is the narration of noble deeds performed by heroes representative of the history of a particular people. the epics Iliad and Odyssey, composed in Ancient Greece, authored by Homer, are the most famous models of this genre, having influenced the construction of other epics.
Read more:Lyrical genre - presents as its main feature the manifestation of subjectivity
Origin of the epic genre
The word epic comes from the Greek and put, "verse", more poieô, "I do", and refers to the narrative, in the form of verses, of a great fact of interest to a people. It is an objective, impersonal poetry, whose main characteristic is the presence of a storyteller telling facts from the past. As for the theme, the narration of heroic facts in the history of a people predominates.
Main features epic genre
→ Regarding the theme
- It narrates the adventure of a hero and his warrior exploits.
- Presence of elements of the mythology Greco-Roman.
→ Regarding the structure
- Poem narrated in third person.
- Divide into corners or books.
- Predominance of objectivity.
- It tends to have the following parts: introduction, invocation, narration and epilogue.
epic texts
![Homer (928 a. C.-898 a. C.) is considered the author of the two most important Western epics. [1]](/f/3a92a848dd5acf10ca2935f26353e3b4.jpg)
In the West, the following epic texts stand out:
- Iliad(Homer, Greece; narrative about the Trojan War)
- Odyssey (Homer, Greece; narrative of Ulysses' return from the Trojan War)
- Aeneid (Virgil, Rome; narrative of Roman deeds)
- Paradiselost (Milton, England)
- OrlandoFurious(Ludovico Ariosto, Italy)
- YouLusiads(Camões, Portugal)
- Caramuru(Santa Rita Durão, Brazil; narrates facts linked to the beginning of colonization)
- Ouraguay(Basílio da Gama, Brazil; narrates the dispute between Jesuits, Indians and Portuguese in Rio Grande do Sul)
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Iliad
the epic Iliad narrates the drama of the hero Achilles, son of the goddess Thetis and the mortal Peleus, king of Phtia, in Thessaly, involved with the war of the greeks against the trojans. This war, according to Greek mythology, was motivated by the kidnapping of Helena, wife of the king of Sparta, Menelaus, by Paris, son of Priam, king of Troy.
agamemnon, chief of the Greek armies, rescued from the hands of Achilles, the most valiant of the Greek warriors, his Briseis, who had been kidnapped by Achilles. In protest, Achilles withdrew to camp with his warriors and refused to engage in combat.
It is at this moment that the Iliad. To soothe Achilles' tempers, Agamemnon sends him messengers, asking him to join the fight. Achilles refuses, and Agamemnon, with his men, joins the fray.
Achilles, however, enraged by the murder of Patroclus, his best friend, returns to the battles and destroys the enemy. He kills Hector, chains his corpse to the car and takes it around the city walls. Priam, father of Hector, obtains from Achilles permission to bury his son.
Regarding the structure, the Iliadis composed of 15,693 verses in dactylic hexamer, which is the traditional format of the Greek epic. Hexamer is a verse composed of six poetic syllables, and dactylic alludes to the rhythm of the poem, composed of one long syllable and two short syllables, since Greek (and Latin) does not have stressed syllables, but brief and long.
See the first stanza of “Canto I” from Iliad:
Sing me, oh goddess, of the Achilles Pele
The tenacious wrath, which, mourning the Greeks,
Greens in Orco cast a thousand strong souls,
Bodies from heroes to dogs and grazing vultures:
Lei was from Jove, in a quarrel when they disagreed
That of chief men and the divine Myrmidon.
See too: Luís Vaz de Camões – author of the most famous epic text in the Portuguese language
Odyssey
Odyssey comes from Odysseus—Greek hero, king of Ithaca, whom the Latins call Odysseus. In this Greek epic, the return of Odysseus (or Ulysses) from the Trojan War, where he fought for 10 years. In the 24 corners that constitute this epic narrative of Homer, composed by 12 thousand hexameter verses, from 13 to 17 syllables, the reader follows the adventures the protagonist goes through during a 10-year journey.
Odysseus, therefore, spent 20 years away from home, during which time his wife, Queen of Ithaca, becomes courted by many suitors, who aim to take over the kingdom. After experiencing a series of adventures, such as your passage on the island of Calypso, where he was imprisoned for a considerable time, Odysseus arrives at Ithaca and, using his heavy bow, arrows his wife's arrogant suitors, reassuming his kingdom.
Read an excerpt from “Canto XXII”, a moment in the epic narrative in which Odysseus's suitors are exterminated. Penelope.
The hero takes off his rags, jumps to the threshold
Bow and quiver, and at his feet he spills the arrows,
Saying to the procos: “The arduous enterprise is finished;
On a target never reached before
I have the aim, and give me the glory Phoebus.”
Antino here fires a sharp shot,
When he the two golden wings cup
He maneuvered, and the liquor was rising,
I don't care about death. who predicted
That among many, one, famous though,
Would the Parca surrender it? the tip or the stick
From the gullet to the tender cervix; to the coup, Antino
Drops the cup, sideways falls;
Blood from the nostrils gushes, and on convulsing feet
The table pushes; spreads the food,
Dirty meat and bread. The turmoil boils;
They rise up, looking for
In vain, through the carved walls,
Shield or spear, in rage, trembled:
"What! stranger, you aim at men!
Final feat: vultures will engulf you;
You killed the flower of the young Ithacos...
Image credit
[1] Naci Yavuz / Shutterstock
By Leandro Guimarães
Literature teacher