Classical Epic: Iliad and Aeneid

1
Classical Epic Iliad and Aeneid

• tells myth of cultures formative beginning
• begins with invocation to Muses
• composed in Greek or Latin
• meter dactylic hexameter (long lines)
• sound devices no end rhyme or alliteration
• extended similes
• action begins in middle of story uses flashbacks
  for earlier events

2
Medieval Epic Beowulf and Roland

• originates national literature
• composed in vernacular
• shorter lines
• sound device alliteration or end rhyme
• kennings or short similes--fewer poetic devices
  than classical epic
• narrative arranged chronologically

3
Medieval Romance

• first written in south of France in 12th C
• much shorter than epics
• focus on courtly love stories of knights and
  ladies
• lady has higher social standing
• man has an ideal of service to the lady
• true love always outside marriage
• at this social level, marriage always arranged
• often poetry with sound devices end rhyme
• immense and instant popularity

4
Medieval Romance vs. Medieval Epic

• Lays, Arthurian romances, interludes from Inferno
• both poetic and prose
• short narratives
• new high medieval tradition
• begun in Southern France by poets composing under
  the patronage of women
• rooted in worship of Mary

• Beowulf, Roland, Inferno
• poetic
• long narratives
• Inferno borrows from earlier traditions
• classical
• nearly all of its structural poetic devices
• Germanic warrior culture
• hero as Christian seeker after salvation

5
Dante combines epic and romance

• first medieval epic to borrow from classical epic
• alternates between high epic seriousness and fun
  romantic interludes--the little stories of all
  whom Dante encounters on his epic journey
• invocation to Muses in canto 2
• uses extended similes
• uses end rhyme