Epic

EPIC
Definition:
An epic poem, epic,  derived from a Latin word ‘Epicus’, from the Ancient Greek adjective, Epikos or epo or from a French Word, Epopee means word, story, poem is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation.
Examples:
Some of the most famous examples of epic poetry include the Ancient Greek Iliadand Odyssey, Virgil's Aeneid, the ancient Indian Ramayana and Mahabharata, Dante's Divine Comedy, the Portuguese Lusiads, and John Milton's Paradise Lost.
Characteristics:
Epics have seven main characteristics:
1. The hero is outstanding. They might be important, and historically or legendarily significant.
2. The setting is large. It covers many nations, or the known world.
3. The action is made of deeds of great valour or requiring superhuman courage.
4. Supernatural forces—gods, angels, demons—insert themselves in the action.
5. It is written in a very special style (verse as opposed to prose).
6. The poet tries to remain objective.
7. Epic poems are believed to be supernatural and real by the hero and the villain
Conventions of epics:
1. It starts with the theme or subject of the story.
2. 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. (This convention is restricted to cultures which were influenced by Classical culture: the Epic of Gilgamesh, for example, or the Bhagavata Purana would obviously not contain this element).
3. Narrative opens in medias res, or in the middle of things, usually with the hero at his lowest point. Usually flashbacks show earlier portions of the story.
4. Catalogues and genealogies are given. These long lists of objects, places, and people place the finite action of the epic within a broader, universal context. Often, the poet is also paying homage to the ancestors of audience members.
5. Main characters give extended formal speeches.
6. Use of the epic simile.
7. Heavy use of repetition or stock phrases.
8. It presents the heroic ideals such as courage, honour, sacrifice, patriotism and kindness.
9. An epic gives a clear picture of the social and cultural patterns of the contemporary life. Beowulf thus shows the love of wine, wild celebration, war, adventure and sea-voyages.
Features:
1. The hero is a figure of great national or even cosmic importance.
In Paradise Lost, Adam and Eve are the progenitors of the entire human race, or if we regard Christ as the protagonist, He is both God and man.
2. The setting of the poem is ample in scale, and may be worldwide, or even larger.
The scope of Paradise Lost  is the entire universe, for it takes place in heaven, on earth, in hell, and in the cosmic space between.
3. The action involves extraordinary deeds in battle.
Paradise Lost includes the revolt in heaven by the rebel angels against God, the journey of Satan through chaos to discover the newly created world, and his desperately audacious attempt to outwit God by corrupting mankind, in which his success is ultimately frustrated by the sacrificial action of Christ
4. In these great actions the gods and other supernatural beings take an interest or an active part.
Jehovah, Christ, and the angels in Paradise Lost
5. An epic poem is a ceremonial performance, and is narrated in a ceremonial style which is deliberately distanced from ordinary speech and proportioned to the grandeur and formality of the heroic subject and architecture.
Hence Milton’s grand style— his formal diction and elaborate and stylized syntax, which are in large part modeled on Latin Poetry, his sonorous lists of names and wide-ranging allusions, and his imitation of Homer’s epic similies and epithets.