“Epic”
is the name given to narrative poetry which deals, in dignified and elevated
style, with some important action, usually heroic. (An epic is a narrative
poem, of considerable length, of exalted style, celebrating heroic adventures,
mythical or historical). The great examples of classical epics are the Iliad
and the Odyssey of Homer, which are unmatched in any other language.
In Latin, the Aenied by the ancient poet, Virgil, is
almost equally famous. The Iliad, a poem in twenty-four books, has as its
central theme the wrath of Achilles. The Odyssey, also a poem in twenty-four
books, deals with the adventures of Odysseus. Aeneid is a poem in twelve books:
it is a national epic, designed to celebrate the origin and growth of
the Roman empire, the ground-work of the poem being the legends connected
with Aeneas.
Paradise Lost can properly be classed among epic poems.
It is undoubtedly one of the highest efforts of poetical genius and, in one great
characteristic, majesty and sublimity, it is fully equal to any known epic
poem, ancient or modern. It has the Graeco-Roman form of the epic which follows
ancient models. Its aspect, its divisions, and its style are those of the Iliad
or the Aeneid. It depicts a unique event, which is the fall of man. The subject
is derived from the Old Testament and it is astonishing how, from the few hints
given in the scripture, Milton was able to raise so complete and regular a
structure. The subject is one for which Milton alone was fitted and, in the
conduct of it, he has shown a stretch both of imagination and invention, which
is perfectly wonderful. Besides, the nature of this theme is such as to give
the poem a universal character.
