Saturday, April 19, 2025 : TES > Documents > Epic
The Epic
Notes on the Epic Genre
The notes and handouts in this section cover the two major types of epic: the primary and secondary epics. Also covered are mock epics, epic novels, and epic romances. Epic criticism and theory, in addition to examining several texts and essays about the epic genre, also contain notes about the epic genre in general.
- Definition
- Characteristics
- Conventions
- Epic Similes
- Epic Spirit
- Epical Actions
- Epic Hero
- Epic Classifications
- Primary Epic
- Secondary Epic
- Mock Epic
- Ancient Chronology
- The Hellenic Greeks
Epics
- Virgil’s Aeneid
Gilgamesh
The Iliad
About Homer
Topics for Discussion
The Odyssey
About Homer
Myth and the Odyssey
Vico and the “Discover of the True Homer”
General Notes
Topics for Discussion
Summary — Written by myself and the students of ENC 3101, Fall 1998
Beowulf
Précis of E. Talbot Donaldson’s Translation
Questions for Consideration
La Commedia
Introduction to the Commedia
Dante’s Cosmology and Idea
Dante’s Hell
Dante’s View of Heroism
Medieval Allegory
Dante and the Ladder
Dante the Pilgrim
Questions for Consideration
Suggested Topics for Papers
Columbia’s Digital Dante
Bill Stephany’s Introduction to the Inferno
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight