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Epic Poetry/Ballads

Epic Poetry/Ballads. Ms. Logan English I. What is an EPIC?.

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Epic Poetry/Ballads

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  1. Epic Poetry/Ballads Ms. Logan English I

  2. What is an EPIC? The epic is generally defined: A long narrative poem on a great and serious subject, related in an elevated style, and centered on a heroic or quasi-divine figure on whose actions depends the fate of a tribe, a nation, or the human race. The traditional epics were shaped by a literary artist from historical and legendary materials which had developed in the oral traditions of his nation during a period of expansion and warfare (Beowulf, The Odyssey, The Iliad).

  3. Characteristics • The hero is a figure of great national or even cosmic importance, usually the ideal man of his culture. He often has superhuman or divine traits.  He has an imposing physical stature and is greater in all ways than the common man. • The setting is vast in scope. It covers great geographical distances, perhaps even visiting the underworld, other worlds, other times. • The action consists of deeds of valor or superhuman courage (especially in battle). • Supernatural forces interest themselves in the action and intervene at times. The intervention of the gods is called "machinery." • The style of writing is elevated, even ceremonial.

  4. Characteristics (Cont’d) • Opens by stating the theme of the epic. • Writer invokes a Muse, one of the nine daughters of Zeus.  The poet prays to the muses to provide him with divine inspiration to tell the story of a great hero. • Narrative opens in media res. This means "in the middle of things," usually with the hero at his lowest point.  Earlier portions of the story appear later as flashbacks. • Heavy use of repetition and stock phrases. The poet repeats passages that consist of several lines in various sections of the epic and uses homeric epithets, short, recurrent phrases used to describe people, places, or things.  Both made the poem easier to memorize.

  5. Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the storyof that man skilled in all ways of contending,the wanderer, harried for years on end,after he plundered the strongholdon the proud height of Troy. He saw the townlandsand learned the minds of many distant men,and weathered many bitter nights and daysin his deep heart at sea, while he fought onlyto save his life, to bring his shipmates home.But not by will nor valor could he save them,for their own recklessness destroyed them all —children and fools, they killed and feasted onthe cattle of Lord Hêlios, the Sun,and he who moves all day through the heaventook from their eyes the dawn of their return. . . .

  6. Ballads • Ballads are poems that tell a story. They are considered to be a form of narrative poetry. They are often used in songs and have a very musical quality to them. The basic form for ballads is iambic heptameter (seven sets of unstressed, stressed syllables per line), in sets of four, with the second and fourth lines rhyming. Feel free to experiment, but remember, it should have a smooth, song-like sound when you speak it aloud, even if it doesn’t meet the syllable requirement.

  7. Characteristics • Characteristics of a Ballad: • It is a relatively short narrative poem.• It has a simple and dramatic action. • The ballads tell of love, death, the supernatural, a historical event, or a combination of these. • It has a refrain.• Ballads often open abruptly.• It uses concise dialogue.• The ballad stanza is a quatrain in which the second and the fourth lines rhyme while the first and the third lines do not (abcb).

  8. I'll tell a tale, a thrilling tale of love beyond compareI knew a lad not long ago more gorgeous than any I've seen.And in his eyes I found my self a'falling in love with the swain.Oh, the glorious fellow I met by the ocean with eyes of deep-sea green! He was a rugged sailor man with eyes of deep-sea green,And I a maid, a tavern maid! Whose living was serving beer.So with a kiss and with a wave, off on his boat he sailedAnd left me on the dock, the theif! Without my heart, oh dear! And with a heart that's lost at sea, I go on living still.I still am now still serving beer in that tavern by the sea.And though the pay check's still the same, the money won't go as farFor now I feed not just myself, but my little one and me! So let that be a lesson, dear, and keep your heart safely hid.I gave mine to a sailing thief with gorgeous eyes of green.Save yours for a sweeter lad who makes the land his home.Ah me! If only I'd never met that sailor by the sea!

  9. Works Cited "Epic - Definiton and Conventions." Web. 01 Mar. 2012. <http://homepage.mac.com/mseffie/assignments/beowulf/epic.html>. "Ballads." ThinkQuest. Oracle Foundation. Web. 01 Mar. 2012. <http://library.thinkquest.org/3721/poems/forms/ballad.html>.

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