P5+Epic+Tradition

Sophia Urias Mr. Shingler Period 5 31 August, 2012

Historical – Sophia Urias Historical relevance affects the story because it shows what people had believed in according to history. Epic poems have dated back to Homer’s The Illiad and The Odyssey. We are able to see what people had believed as true through these types of stories. “Our earliest historical examples of epic heros and their tasks are Homer’s great Achilles and Odysseus, and the Greeks’ war against the Trojans” (Beissinger). Beissinger has states that these are the earliest historical examples of epics. This was how people back then used these writings to explain the world around them. “The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri was unutterably crucial to the development in literature and theological thinking” (Devera). As Devera had said this was a “crucial development” not only in literature but in the way people thought how heaven and hell worked. This making it important to history because what people thought to be true played a big role on how they acted.

Citations: -Beissinger, Margaret. “Epic Traditions in the Contemporary World.” Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1999. Print. -Devera, John, “The historic importance of Inferno, by Dante Alighieri”. Helium Where knowledge rules, 2008. Aug 13.2012.

Marisa Pagel Mr. Shingler Period 5 31 August, 2012



Cultural- Epic traditions are passed down from generation to generation using culture. Margaret Beissinger stated that, “ The epic tradition has been part of many different cultures throughout human history,”(Beissinger 1). As Beissinger has stated epic tradition is in culture. However, it may be placed and said in a different manner. Epic tradition can be seen through stories such as Lliad and Odyssey, where there were Greek, mythical creatures having their tradition and showing what their “culture” was to the younger generation. As stated by Friedrich Nietzschee, “Every tradition grows ever more vulnerable - the more remote its origin, the more confused that origin is. The reverence due to it increases from generation to generation. The tradition finally becomes holy and inspires awe,” (Nietzschee 1). Tradition becomes culture. Maybe not to a whole nation of people, but it is the culture of a family, of a household, or even of a religion. Traditions can not only affect the culture of one family or religion, but a variety of them. It becomes “holy and inspires awe” to many people, if the culture is worthy of “awe.” Mahendra Chaudhry stated that, “To hide behind culture or tradition to justify anarchy is a gross insult to the very people whose culture or tradition may be paraded to glorify criminal conduct,” (Chaudhry 1). Sometimes a culture may not be the justified idea to some, however it might be to them. Culture and traditions were passed down, learned from previous generations and in some instances may inspire people to “glorify criminal conduct.” However, one may not know what the difference is between a “holy” culture and a culture who “parades criminal conduct.”

Citations-

Beissinger, Margaret. “Epic Traditions in the Contemporary World.” Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1999. Print. Nietzschee, Friedrich. “Human, All Too Human.” Germany: Penguin Books Limited, 1878. Print. Chaudhry, Mahendra. “Farewell function for outgoing United States Ambassador David Lyon Speech.” California Fiji Festival, California, 15 July, 2005. Speech.

Erica Cook Mr. Shingler Period 5 31 August, 2012

Picture for Audience: The picture represents how not many people could read it and it seemed that the church could have been fighting many from reading it.

Audience-

In the 14th century there were few literate people. Dante’s Inferno was written in the 14th century. An epic poem is a poem in which usually is longer and fiction. In epic tradition there is mythology. These types of written work were written to explain the unknown. In Mythology: the epic tradition it states “The poet uses a wide range of rhetorical and poetic devices: figures of speech (similes, metaphors, etc.), as well as elaborate schemes of words and schemes of construction,” (The Epic Tradition 1). That concludes that the audience would have to been scholars from the 14th century. Perhaps even philosophers trying to understand the unknown could have read this text and have learned from it. In Britannia History it states about the 14th century “ The parish church played a very important part in everyday life and it was involved in secular affairs as much as spiritual ones, “ (Britannia 1). This epic poem must have had a narrow audience of people who number one could read and secondly, was interested in things other than the church's power. The audience for epic tradition would have been small untill recently.

Citations :

1. "MYTHOLOGY: THE EPIC TRADITION." MYTHOLOGY: THE EPIC TRADITION. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Sept. 2012. < http://pages.towson.edu/legault/myth/mythhdtepic.html>.

2. "Britannia History: 14th Century Faith." Britannia History: 14th Century Faith. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Sept. 2012. < http://www.britannia.com/history/articles/14faith.html>.