The Book of the Epic: The World's Great Epics Told in StoryGuerber, H. A. (Hélène Adeline)
General
The Book of the Epic: The World's Great Epics Told in Story
Guerber, H. A. (Hélène Adeline)
Epic poetry -- Adaptations
Spenser, our next epic poet, left us the unfinished Faerie Queene, an
allegorical epic which shows the influence of Ariosto and other
Italian poets, and contains exquisitely beautiful passages descriptive
of nature, etc. His allegorical plot affords every facility for the
display of his graceful verse, and is outlined in another chapter.
There are two curious but little-known English epics, William Warner's
chronicle epic entitled "Albion's England" (1586), and Samuel Daniel's
"Civil Wars." The first, beginning with the flood, carries the reader
through Greek mythology to the Trojan War, and hence by means of Brut
to the beginnings of English history, which is then continued to the
execution of Mary Stuart. The second (1595) is an epic, in eight
books, on the Wars of the Roses. Drayton also wrote, on the theme of
the Civil Wars, an epic entitled "The Barons' Wars," and undertook a
descriptive and patriotic epic in "Polyolbion," wherein he makes a
tour of England relating innumerable local legends.
Abraham Cowley composed an epic entitled "Davideis," or the troubles
of David. He begins this work in four books with a description of two
councils held in Heaven and hell in regard to the life of this worthy.
Dryden was not only a translator of the classic epics, but projected
an epic of his own about Arthur. Almost at the same time Pope was
planning to write one on Brut, but he too failed to carry out his
intentions, and is best known as the translator of the Iliad, although
some authorities claim the "Rape of the Lock" is a unique sample of
the _épopée galante._
The poet Keats, whose life was so short, left us a complete
mythological epic in "Endymion," a fragment of one in "Hyperion," and
a reproduction of one of the old romances in "Isabella, or a Pot of
Basil."
Shelley, Keats' contemporary, wrote poems abounding in epic
passages,--"Alastor, or the Spirit of Solitude," "The Revolt of
Islam," "Adonais," and "Prometheus Unbound"; while Byron's epical
poems are "Manfred," "The Corsair," and "Don Juan"; and Scott's, "The
Lay of the Last Minstrel," "Marmion," "The Lady of the Lake," and "The
Bridal of Triermain."
The greatest of Coleridge's poems, "The Ancient Mariner," is sometimes
called a visionary epic, while his "Christabel" conforms more closely
to the old _roman d'adventure._
As the translator of the epical romances of "Amadis de Gaule" and
"Palmerin," Southey won considerable renown; he also wrote the
oriental epics "Thalaba" and "The Curse of Kehama," as well as epical
poems on "Madoc," "Joan of Arc," and "Roderick, the Last of the
Goths."
Moore, although preeminently a lyric poet, has left us the eastern
epic "Lalla Rookh," and Lockhart some "Spanish Ballads" which
paraphrase the Cid.
Among Macaulay's writings the "Lays of Ancient Rome" have epic
qualities, which are also found in Leigh Hunt's "Story of Rimini."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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