Epic poem
An epic poem is a long narrative poem in an elevated style that tells of a hero's deeds and events of great importance to a people or a culture.
The Odyssey begins with a request: "Tell me, O Muse, of that ingenious hero who travelled far and wide after he had sacked the famous town of Troy." In Samuel Butler's English version, those lines sum up the form: an appeal for inspiration, a hero and a scale of events that covers a whole world.
What epics have in common
- A hero who stands for a people. Achilles, Odysseus, Aeneas and Beowulf carry the fate of a society.
- An invocation. The poet opens by asking a muse for help.
- In medias res. The story starts in the middle of the action and fills in the past through telling and flashback.
- Long speeches and catalogues. Lists of ships, warriors and ancestors give weight and a sense of the whole world.
- Gods and the supernatural. Powers beyond human reach steer events.
- A formal style. The language is raised above everyday speech, and in English often written in blank verse.
Two kinds
Oral epics, like Homer's, grew from performers passing down repeated phrases and stories. Literary epics, like Virgil's Aeneid and Milton's Paradise Lost, were composed in writing, in conscious imitation of the older ones.
Why it matters to a writer or editor
The epic is the ancestor of many conventions of long fiction: the quest, the opening in the middle, the hero's descent into a dark place and return. Understanding it helps an editor see where a fantasy or adventure novel is borrowing from tradition. It also shows how long forms hold attention: through variety of scene, recurring images and a protagonist whose choices matter. For the shorter story-in-verse tradition, see the ballad.
Read an example
Read an example: the opening lines of Milton's Paradise Lost, which name the subject and call on a muse, as epics do.
Of Man's first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste
Brought death into the World, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful seat,
Sing, Heavenly Muse,John Milton, Paradise Lost, 1667
If a whole epic is too long for one sitting, the Bossfeed daily poem archive has shorter verse from the same period.
Frequently asked questions
What are the main features of an epic?
A hero of great importance, a vast setting, supernatural forces, an invocation to a muse, a story that begins in the middle, long speeches and catalogues, and a formal elevated style.
What are the best-known epics?
The Iliad and the Odyssey, the Aeneid, Beowulf, the Divine Comedy, Paradise Lost, the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Mahabharata.
Is an epic always a poem?
Traditionally yes. The term is also used loosely for long novels or films with the same grand scale, such as Tolstoy's War and Peace.