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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:

1. invocatio: opens often praising some muse

or anthropomorphized entity;

2. in medias res (in the middle of things);

3. vast setting, beyond nation, time, world,

universe;

4. explains the theme right away (thesis);

5. has long genealogical lists;

6. possesses long and polished speeches;

Badass Beowulf et. al. promote heroic ideals for their time...

A CULTURE OFTEN EMBODIES ITS VALUES IN THE HEROES IT PROMOTES; THE HERO THEN TRANSMITS THOSE IDEALS TO A COMMON POPULACE.

GILGAMESH OF URUK

SIEGFRIED/BRUNHILDE MAUI THE DEMIGOD

BEOWULFEPIC POEM

The Cyclops and Odysseus

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,

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. 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).

2. 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)

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. Epithet: Heavy use of repetition or stock phrases: e.g., Homer's "rosy-fingered dawn" and "wine-dark sea." (“Epic_poetry”)

INVOCATIO

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 Sun-god 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

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 ruledin fame with all folk, since his father had goneaway 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 kinobeyed him gladly till great grew his bandof youthful comrades. It came in his mindto bid his henchmen a hall uprear,a master mead-house, mightier farthan ever was seen by the sons of earth,and within it, then, to old and younghe would all allot that the Lord had sent him,save only the land and the lives of his men.

Odysseus

Achilles