1 / 15

The Greek Hero Concept and the Epic Poem

The Greek Hero Concept and the Epic Poem. The Greek Hero- 3 Phases of Development. 1. Initiation- being called to forces that encourage one to go off on a quest. 2. Separation- Leaving home and experiencing deeds on their own. How do they accomplish deeds on their journey?

adli
Download Presentation

The Greek Hero Concept and the Epic Poem

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The Greek Hero Concept and the Epic Poem

  2. The Greek Hero- 3 Phases of Development • 1. Initiation- being called to forces that encourage one to go off on a quest. • 2. Separation- Leaving home and experiencing deeds on their own. How do they accomplish deeds on their journey? • 3. Return- Returning home and dealing with changes- adjusting to the time before they left.

  3. The Greek Hero ConceptHero Traits • Divine Ancestry • Favored by the gods • Courage • Prowess (muscle) • Intelligence/Evaluating skills • Hesitation before taking action • Admirable qualities as well as flaws (ex: hubris- pride)

  4. The Epic • Definition: A long narrative poem in elevated style recounting travels, adventures, and heroic episodes. • Examples: Homer’s The Odyssey and The Iliad,

  5. Epic Element 1: Hero of great importance • 1. The hero is a figure of imposing stature, of national or international importance and of great historical or legendary significance.

  6. Epic Element #2: Vast Setting • 2. The setting is vast in scope, covering great nations, the world, or the universe

  7. Epic Element #3: Supernatural forces • 3. Supernatural forces are present- gods, witches, mythical helpers, and nymphs interest themselves in the action and intervene from time to time.

  8. Epic Element #4: Deeds of courage • 4. The action consists of deeds of great valor or requiring superhuman courage.

  9. Epic Element #5: In Media Res • 5. The story begins in medias res (in the middle of things) and then has flashbacks to explain action leading up to that point.

  10. Epic Element #6: Invoking the Muse • 6. The story begins with an invocation( prayer) to a muse for inspiration in telling the story. The Muses were the nine daughters of Zeus who were said to inspire poets, philosophers, & artists. "Sing, goddess of epic poetry, the story of the anger of Achilles“ (The Iliad).

  11. Epic Element #7: Epithet • 7. Frequent use of epithets or brief descriptive phrases that characterize a particular person • Ex: “Son of Cronus“ (Zeus); “Bright-eyed Athena”; “The great tactician” (Odysseus), “rosy-fingered dawn”

  12. Epic Element #8: Lists • 8. The story uses lists of things and characters; In one book of The Iliad, for example, there is a list of the ships that sailed from Greece to Troy.

  13. Epic Element #9: Long Speeches • 9. There are long and formal speeches by many characters. You will not have any trouble spotting these. Sometimes they happen in the heat of battle and other seemingly inappropriate times, but more often they occur at various kinds of meetings.

  14. Epic Element #10: Epic Simile • 10. The stories use the epic simile. An epic simile is a long comparison of two unlike things. They make a vivid image. • Ex: Weak as the doe that beds down her fawns in a mighty lion's den - her newborn sucklings - then trails off to the mountain spurs and grassy bends to graze her fill, but back the lion comes to his own lair and the master deals both fawns a ghastly, bloody death, just what Odysseus will deal that mob - ghastly death.

  15. Epic Element #11: Narrative Drift • 11. The narrator of an epic is constantly interrupting the narration to elaborate on an aspect of what he is talking about. This is called narrative drift. • Ex: if he mentions a gift of wine, he will explain not only the history of the gift but the history of the giver.

More Related