Epic Genre Example

The epic genre is one of the genres that allow you to narrate heroic feats and gestures that can be real or fictional and their feats they are usually magnanimous, which allow to save or form an epic legend and that the characters transcend later.

This genre has supernatural elements such as monsters, supernatural warriors, or magnanimous events.

Another of the elements that the epic genre has is that of extreme combat, which is generally physical in addition to the fact that the hero has extraordinary powers.

In this genre, events, especially battles, are well described, in addition to describing the way of life of the places where they are, such as towns, provinces, castles or even kingdoms.

The styles of this genre are divided into:

• Songs
• Songs and
• Rhapsodies.

In addition to that the epic genre can be done in chapters.

Examples of epic genre narratives:

Example 1, Fragment of the Iliad:

"... When Achilles had satisfied his crying desires, he looked compassionately at the graying old man and inviting him to take a seat, he said:" Wretched, how many misfortunes your heart has endured! Although we are both afflicted, let the pain rest in the soul, the icy crying is useless, because what the gods have spun for the miserable mortals is to live in grief, while they are exempt from worries. On the threshold of Olympus there are two barrels with gifts that the god distributes: in one, there are sorrows and in the other, joys. The one to whom Zeus gives them mixed, sometimes encounters misfortune and others with luck, but the one who only He receives regrets, lives in shame and goes from one place to another without being honored, neither by the gods, nor by the mens. Thus, the gods bestowed upon my father, Peleus, great boons from his birth: he surpassed the other men in happiness and wealth, he reigns over the Myrmidons and, being mortal, had for his wife a goddess. But he also imposed an evil on him: that he did not have children to reign in the palace after his death. Only one begot, whose life must be short. Besides, I cannot give him the consolation of taking care of his old age, being so far from my kingdom. Think that you also reigned rich and happy over Lesbos and from Phrygia to the immense Hellespont. But the gods brought you the plague of war. Suffer it resignedly and do not allow continuous sorrow to take hold of your heart, because perhaps your misfortunes have not ended... "

Example 2, excerpt from the Odyssey:

“… CANTO II TELÉMACO GATHERS THE PEOPLE OF ITACA IN ASSEMBLY Comment: The bedroom of Telémaco was, without a doubt, one of the thálamoi that surrounded the central courtyard, in the opposite wing al mégaron Comment: Euriclea, like all the characters who are going to play an important role in the story (especially in canto XIX), is presented soon and with everything detail. This is the reason why Homer takes pleasure in describing the moment when Telemachus goes to the bedroom. Comment: The beds at this time were wooden cots with the boards "drilled" in order to introduce ropes and tighten them to serve as a support to the mattress, of whatever kind it was (probably simple skins). Cf. Ety - aologctum Magnum s. v. Tretón léchos. And when Eos, the one born in the morning, the one with the fingers of rose, was shown, at once the beloved son of Odysseus arose from the On the bed, he dressed his clothes, hung the sharp sword from his shoulder, and under his feet, shining like oil, he put on beautiful flip flops. Then he set off, came out of the bedroom like a god in his bearing, and ordered the vocipotent heralds to call together the long-haired Achaeans; The former sided and the latter began to gather in haste. Later, when they had been gathered and were already gathered together, he set out towards the square - in his hand a bronze spear -; but not only, that he was followed by two swift-legged sighthounds. Then Athena poured divine grace on him, and all the citizens gazed at him in admiration; he sat on the throne of his father and the elders gave him the place. Then the Egyptian hero began to speak among them, who was already bent over with old age and knew a thousand things, because also his son, the spearman Antiphos, had embarked in the concave ships in the company of the divine Odysseus towards Ilion of good foals; The savage Cyclops had killed it in his deep cave and had prepared it as the last bite of his dinner. He still had three left: one was among the suitors and the other two were tirelessly taking care of the paternal property. But even so he had not forgotten about it, always mourning and grieving. Shedding tears for his son, she raised her voice and said: «Now listen to me, Itaceans, what I am going to say to you. We have never had an assembly or a session since the divine Odysseus marched in the concave ships. Who, then, summons us now in this way? Whom has such a great need assailed, either of the young or of the old? Has he heard any news that the army is arriving, news that he wants to reveal to us once he has found out? Or is he going to tell us something else of interest to the people? It seems to me that he is noble, fortunate. So Zeus will bring to fruition the good that he stirs in his mind! " Thus he spoke, and the beloved son of Odysseus was glad at his words. With that he was no longer sitting and he felt a sudden desire to speak. He rose to his feet in the middle of the square and the herald Pisenor, knowledgeable of discreet advice, placed the scepter in his hand. Then he went first to the old man and said: «Old man, that man is not far away, I am the one who has summoned the people (and you will know it soon), because the pain has reached me too much. I have not heard any news of the arrival of the army that I will reveal to you after I found out, nor am I going to express to you or tell you anything of interest to the people, but a matter of mine private that has fallen on me on the palace like a plague, or better as two: one is that I have lost my noble father, who once reigned over you here present and was good as a dad. But now another even greater plague has overtaken me that is about to rapidly destroy my house and is going to lose all of me. the hacienda: they besiege my mother, although she does not want it, some suitors sons of men who are here the most nobles. They are afraid to go to her father's house, Icario hers, so that he can donate her daughter and give her to whoever he wants and finds her favor. Instead, they come to my house every day and slaughter oxen, sheep, and fat goats, and feast and drink the red wine. So many goods are being lost, for there is no man like Odysseus who casts this curse from my house. I am not yet to throw it away, but I am sure that later on I will be weak and unaware of the value! In truth, I do the Comment: It is a formula that appears twenty times in the Odyssey and only one in the Iliad (1477). Eos is the dawn, daughter of Hyperion and sister of Helios and Selene. Cf. Hesiod, Theogony, 371 ff. Comment: Here we have an example of what an assembly could be like in archaic times, although, for obvious reasons, no sharp conclusions should be drawn as some historians have claimed. It seems to be deduced from the text that it is the king who summons it -because there has not been one for twenty years and people wonder who may be the summoner; There is no fixed order of intervention and this has the presence of some "elders" who could be the representatives of the most important families and whose role is not clear at all. Cf. M. 1. Finley, The World of Odysseus, pp. 95 et seq. Comment: Ilion is the epicoric name of Troy. Cf. R. Carpenter, Folk tale..., page 63 Comment: There is a slight inconsistency here. For many things Egyptian knew, one that he could not know was that his son had been eaten by the Cyclops. Perhaps that is why the Alexandrian philologist Aristarco eliminated vv. 19-20. I would reject if force accompanied me, because the actions that have been committed are no longer bearable and my house is lost in the worst way. You too be indignant and be ashamed of your neighbors, those who live next to you. And fear the wrath of the gods, lest they change the situation irritated by their bad actions. I beg you for Olympian Zeus and for Themis, the one who dissolves and reunites the assemblies of men; content, friends, and let it consume me in solitude, victim of sad sorrow - unless my noble father Odysseus sometime did harm to the Achaeans in beautiful greaves, in exchange for which you are spitefully harming me and encouraging the suitors. For me it would be more advantageous if you were the ones who consume my property and livestock. If you ate them one day I would get the refund, because I would go around the city with my word demanding the money until everything was returned to me; now, however, you cast incurable pains on my heart... "

Some works of the epic genre are:

1. El cantar del Mío Cid, which is by Anonymous author.
2. The Aeneid, by Virgilio.
3. The Iliad, by Homer.
4. Homer's Odyssey.