Epos is a Greek and literary term for an epic poem or, more broadly, an epic style of poetry that tells a large-scale story about heroic or important events. In older criticism, it may also refer to the epic tradition itself rather than to a single poem. Because the word is specialized and rarely used in modern poetry study, it can be easy to confuse with epic as an adjective.
Example
The poet shaped the king's long voyage into an epos:
storms, battles, wandering, and homecoming
all unfolding in a grand, heroic sweep.
Related Definitions
[n] a long narrative poem telling of a hero's deeds
[n] a body of poetry that conveys the traditions of a society by treating some epic theme