Definition
[n] a long narrative poem telling of a hero's deeds
[adj] surpassing the ordinary especially in size or scale; "an epic voyage"; "of heroic proportions"; "heroic sculpture"
[adj] constituting or having to do with or suggestive of a literary epic; "epic tradition"
An extensive, serious poem that tells the story about a heroic figure. A broadly defined genre of poetry, and one of the major forms of narrative literature. It retells in a continuous narrative the life and works of a heroic or mythological person or group of persons.
Example
The Iliad, ascribed to Homer (Greek mythology)
The Odyssey, ascribed to Homer (Greek mythology)
Synonyms
big, epic poem, epical, epos, heroic, large, larger-than-life
See Also...
Aeneid, chanson de geste, heroic verse, Iliad, Nibelungenlied, Odyssey, poem, rhapsody, verse form
Related Terms
account, alba, anacreontic, anecdotage, anecdote, balada, ballad, ballade, bucolic, canso, chanson, chronicle, clerihew, dirge, dithyramb, eclogue, elegy, English sonnet, epigram, epithalamium, epode, epopee, epopoeia, epos, georgic, ghazel, haiku, Horati
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