Epos as a Kind of Literature

Epos is a kind of literature (along with lyrics and drama), a narration about the events assumed in the past (as if accomplished and recalled by the narrator). According to Aristotle's Poetics, the author is impartial and objective at the moment of narration. The emergence of the epic literature is phased in nature due to historical circumstances.

The origin of the epos is usually accompanied by the addition of panegyrics and weeping, close to the heroic worldview. The great acts perpetuated in them are often the material that heroic poets put at the basis of their narrative.

Epic Genres

The novel is a literary genre, (as a rule, prosaic) which involves a comprehensive narrative about the life and development of the personality of the main character (s) in a crisis, non-standard period of his or her life.

The folktale is a prosaic genre that does not have a stable volume and occupies an intermediate place between the novel, on the one hand, and the short story, on the other; it is close to a chronicle that reproduces the natural course of life.

Epic Poem

The epic poem is one of the oldest types of epic works. Ever since antiquity, this kind of poem has focused on the depiction of heroic events, taken most often from the distant past. These events were usually significant, epoch-making, influencing the course of national and common history. The examples of the genre include Iliad and Odyssey by Homer, Song of Roland, Nibelungenlied, Orlando Furioso by Ariosto, Liberated Jerusalem by Tasso, etc. The epic genre is usually a heroic genre. It is recognized as the crown of poetry. The main character in an epic poem is always a historical person. As a rule, he or she is an example of decency, a sample of a person with a high moral character.

Special Features of the Epic Poem

Events that involve the main character of an epic poem, according to unwritten rules, should have a national, universal significance. However, the artistic depiction of events and characters in an epic poem only in its most general form should be related to historical facts and persons. Classicism, which prevailed in fiction for many centuries, did not set as its task a reflection of the true history and characters of real, historical persons. The appeal to the past was determined solely by the need to understand the present. Based on a particular historical fact, event, or face, the poet gave it a new life. These are the main features of epic literature. With this knowledge, you can analyze any work and get good grades at college.