Senior English

 Epic poem is a long narrative poem, concerning a serious subject, containing details of a hero’s deeds and events significant to his culture, race or nation.

 The narrative starts in the middle of the story instead of from its beginning.  The characters, setting, and conflict are often introduced through a series of flashbacks or through characters relating past events to each other.  The main characters are heroes that embody the values of the civilization.  Features long and formal speeches.  The setting is vast, covering many nations, the world or the universe.

 The hero embodies all the best qualities of the society.  epic heroes are superhuman.  They have a noble birth and  Show great bravery.  They display great intelligence and resourcefulness.  They have a reverence for God and for the values of their society.  They are dominant male figures and suffer severe pain, but in the end, they conquer evil

1. An epic hero is superhuman. He is braver, stronger, smarter, and more clever than an ordinary person. 2. The epic hero is on a quest for something of great value to him or his people. 3. The villains that try to keep the hero from his quest are usually uglier, more evil, and more cunning than anyone we know in ordinary life. 4. The epic hero is often of mixed divine and human birth and so possesses human weaknesses.