Heroes, Gods and the Role of Epiphany in English Epic Poetry

By E.L. Risden

This book examines how epic poetry reflects cultural values, and how, in epic poems, the heroes must meet supernatural beings to find answers to essential questions. It begins with three chapters on ancient poetry (including The Iliad and The Odyssey, the Mahabharata, the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Aeneid and the Bhagavad Gita). Subsequent chapters take up the main subject of the book, examining the evolution of English epic poetry from the anonymous Old English Beowulf to Spenser's The Faerie Queen, Milton's Paradise Lost, Blake's Milton, Wordsworth's The Prelude, Barett Browning's Aurora Leigh and Derek Walcott's 1990 poem Omeros.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786435410
• ISBN13: 9780786435418
• Release Date: July 2008
• Publisher: McFarland & Company
• Length: 210 Pages
• Weight: 0.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.9" x 8.9"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher