features of epic poetry

8/9/2019 Features of Epic Poetry

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Features of epic poetry

Oral epic

• Primary, primitive• Ballads and songs accumulated into epics; lays + ballads• Common knowledge• Looser, episodic composition• Epic hero is concerned with personal satisfaction• ritten down in ! " !# century• $ero is of super human caliber, supernatural forces emphasi%e hero&s

strength• Comparisons, long speeches, descriptions and repetition for easier

memori%ing• 'tock epithets ( appears in same form all the time )rose"*ngered dawn&• ennings ( type of metaphorical compound word or phrase used as an

allusion to a simpler idea )wave"traveler, path of whales&

Written epic

ritten down from the start, not meant for singing ole of hero is to protect group at any cost Elaborate vocabulary and sentences Less formulas and repetition -o digressions, tighter structure .odeled by oral epics at *rst /he 0earie 1ueene, Paradise Lost and Paradise regained, 2on 3uan4parody5

Popular from !### century 6rtists and writers, not singers Carefully chosen phrases

Epic singer/poet

Poems were recited by a7 bard8Celtic, rhapsodist89reece, scop86nglo"'a:on,skald8'candinavia, and guslar8'erbia /hey were mediators between past eventsand present audience; they had historical distance, ob


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( many historical *gures combined in him >ltimate sacri*ce ( sometimes dies doinghis task

Epic structure, composition, digressions, style

Poet had to be skilled to know what and how to work $e calls on .uses and 9ods tohelp him in performing; great detail, slow development Poem starts )in medias res&( in the middle of action

2evices for slowing down7 retardation, digressions, episodes, repetition 2igressionsmove the story away from the topic; longer descriptions of ob


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#t gives signi*cant background information; design, plan, scheme, pattern of eventsand relation between them; not as important for short stories as it is for novels

/ypes of plot are7 plot of action ( change in situation; plot of character ( change incharacter; plot of thoughts #t can also be simple, episodic4picares ue novels5 andcomple:

Subplot

#t is additional action which is parallel to the main plot and has the same theme;usually found in parallel novels #t serves to emphasi%e the idea, or contrast it #t canhave its own set of characters

Theme

#t&s a sub


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• 'tream of consciousness ( no narrator, modern techni ue• >nreliable narrator• Engaged narrator• 'elf"conscious narrator ( auto"re=e:ive literature

$anguage and style

• 0ormal ( long, elaborate sentences, Fictorian novels, e:tensive vocabulary,neutral tone, ob


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• Epistolary novel is written in *rst person, composed of se uence of letters• 2iary is usually non"*ction, but is also in form of a novel• Chronicle novel ( bildungsroman8formation novel, )2avid Copper*eld&, /om

3ones&; oman cycle8series of interconnected stories which can be readtogether or by themselves, )0oundation 'eries&, )6le: Cross&; Biography is

written in third person singular; 6utobiography is in *rst person; .emoirnovel, ).ol 0landers&

• 'tructural7 chain, circular and parallel8 ussia• -ovel of time, action, space, character89ermany

%ccording to aesthetic 'alue/intended readership

Popular *ction is meant for a wide audience7 best"sellers, pulp *ction, pot boilers,thrillers, cloak&n&dagger storiesD

'erious *ction is meant for smaller audience and re uires wide knowledge of certainthings

Children&s literature is meant for children

%ccording to theme

• 6dventure novel7 e:citing events, lots of action• omance7 about Christian knights• )6rtist novel&8 unstleroman7 subtype of formation novel, artist&s formation• Crime novel• 'ocial novel7 paints a picture of society• $istorical novel7 a *ctional narrative where history is reconstructed in the

mind of the artist, )'ir alter 'cott&• Psychological novel• 0amily novel• esterns• 'cience"*ction• 9othic novel7 horror, supernatural, castles, graveyards, dungeons, Edgar

6llan Poe&s works• /hesis8sociological novel7 focuses on socio"political or religious problems,

)>ncle /om&s Cabin&

Lyric poetry

"ersi(cation according to number o stressed syllables

ne foot H one stressed syllable .onometer ( one foot 2imeter ( two feet


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/rimeter ( tree feet /etrameter ( four feet Pentameter ( *ve feet

$e:ameter ( si: feet Etc

"ersi(cation according to distribution o stressed syllables )* +unstressed, / stressed-

#ambic foot ( ! 8 /rochaic foot " 8 ! 6napestic foot ( ! ! 8 2actylic foot " 8 ! !

!aesura + divides a verse into two halves of appro:imately same length; it followsnatural speech pattern; used in E poetry, 6"', -eoclassicism 4heroic couple, Pope5

Types o rhyme

.asculine ( last stressed syllables rhyme 0eminine ( last two syllables rhyme /riple ( last three syllables rhyme

.hyme schemes

Paired ( aabb 6lternating ( abab

#nterlocking ( abba 'penser&s rhyme ( ababbcbcc

Stan as

• Couplet ( two verses• /er%a rima ( three verses• 1uatrain ( four verses• Ballad stan%a ( abcb; combination of tetrameter and trimeter• hyme oyal8Chaucer&s stan%a ( ababbcc; iambic pentameter8trimeter• ttawa rima ( abababcc• 'penser&s stan%a ( ababbcbcc• Blank verse ( iambic pentameter, no rhyme, can be found in renaissance

drama• 0ree verse ( no prescribed number of feet, no rhyme; @I th C 6merica, hitman

Sonnets

• Petrarchan ( abba abba cdcd cd• 'hakespearean ( abab cdcd efef gg


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Figures of speech

%lliteration + repetition of a consonant

%ssonance + repetition of a vowelOnomatopoeia ( imitation of the sounds of nature

Simile ( comparison of two things

%ntithesis + contrast of two ideas e:pressed by parallelism of words that areopposites of each other )to err is human, to forgive divine&

Hyperbole ( $yperbole is the use of e:aggeration as a rhetorical device or *gure of speech

0radation ( a scale or series of successive changes, stages, or degreesTautology + using several diGerent words for one thing

Irony ( the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literalmeaning

Parado1 + contradiction, but something that might be true )#&m in hate and #&m inlove&

O1ymoron ( things that seem completely opposite, contradictory )sweet harm,darkness visible&

Metaphor a *gure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an ob


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Personi(cation the attribution of human nature or character to animals,inanimate ob

features of epic poetry

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