Homeric passages in _Beowulf_ 10 and in the _Song of Maldon_ 11 Progress of poetry in the heroic age 13 Growth of Epic, distinct in character, but generally incomplete, among the Teutonic nations 14 II EPIC AND ROMANCE The complex nature of Epic 16 No kind or aspect of life that may not be included 16 This freedom due to the dramatic quality of true (_e.g._ Homeric) Epic 17 as explained by Aristotle 17 Epic does not require a magnificent ideal subject 18 such as those of the artificial epic (_Aeneid_, _Gerusalemme Liberata_, _Paradise Lost_) 18 The _Iliad_ unlike these poems in its treatment of "ideal" motives (patriotism, etc.) 19 True Epic begins with a dramatic plot and characters 20 The Epic of the Northern heroic age is sound in its dramatic conception 20 and does not depend on impersonal ideals (with exceptions, in the _Chansons de geste_) 21 The German heroes in history and epic (Ermanaric, Attila, Theodoric) 21 Relations of Epic to historical fact 22 The epic poet is free in the conduct of his story 23 but his story and personages must belong to his own people 26 Nature of Epic brought out by contrast with secondary narrative poems, where the subject is not national 27 This secondary kind of poem may be excellent, but is always different in character from native Epic 28 Disputes of academic critics about the "Epic Poem" 30 Tasso's defence of Romance. Pedantic attempts to restrict the compass of Epic 30 Bossu on Phaeacia 31 Epic, as the most comprehensive kind of poetry, includes Romance as one of its elements 32 but needs a strong dramatic imagination to keep Romance under control 33 III ROMANTIC MYTHOLOGY Mythology not required in the greatest scenes in Homer 35 Myths and popular fancies may be a hindrance to the epic poet, but he is compelled to make some use of them 36 He criticises and selects, and allows the characters of the gods to be modified in relation to the human characters 37