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Epic, Myth & Story

As distinct as epics, myths and stories are they also share some characteristics in common. An epic is a “very long narrative poem presenting adventures on a grand, heroic scale organically united through a central figure of heroic proportions” (Baker Siepmann 306). Epics are long tales of adventures of a certain people and time and place. They often give historical presence and identity formation to a race or nation, like the East Indian Mahabharata or the Greek immortal epics of Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Warfare and dealings of the supernatural are common to epics, as they can also be to myths or stories. Epics basically depict lofty and heroic themes and characters, and the main figures usually embody the ideals of a people or nation. The action usually involves warfare and divine intervention. Some of the basic universal questions man faces are embodied in the text of legends. Questions like: What is God?; What is man?; What is the soul? Some, like the three epics mentioned earlier are basically a textbook of how to act if you are a Greek or a Hindu and wish to lead a noble, full existence.

Myths are a tale that “belongs to any culture that is derived from primitive beliefs, presenting supernatural episodes to explain cosmic forces and the natural order” (Baker Siepmann 678). Myths are similar to epics in some ways but they belong to any culture and they have common themes and elements like creation, divinity, the meaning of life and death, natural phenomena and tales of mythical heroes. Very often myths were used as a means of explaining a world of unknown phenomena by peoples and nations with a very primitive understanding of the scientific world. For example, many Native American myths were developed in order to explain the meaning of God, the significance of the sun, moon and rain and to understand man’s relationship with nature. Because of this myths mus

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Epic, Myth & Story. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 10:11, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1685422.html