Quote:
Originally Posted by nekokami
But I'm not sure I'm using the term "epic" the same way as it's being used in this thread. Wiktionary defines "epic" as "An extended narrative poem in elevated or dignified language, celebrating the feats of a legendary or traditional hero." or "A series of events considered appropriate to an epic." There is also a Wikipedia entry for Epic Fantasy/High Fantasy which specifically mentions Jame (the main character from Hodgell's stories.)
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If we're going back to the
original meaning of the word "Epic" in Greek poetry, the word referred to
any long poem whatsoever written in dactylic hexameter metre. It was due to the use of this metre by the Homeric poems (the
Iliad and
Odyssey) that the word subsequently became associated with the subject matter being of a "heroic" nature rather than referring to the metre in which it was written.