EGL 272 - Epic

Course Units: 1

(Not Offered this Academic Year) (Offered intermittently) In this course students will be introduced to epic poetry, long narrative poems on a serious subject. We will study both traditional oral epic poetry and literary epic poems and read most of the Homeric Iliad and Odyssey as well as Virgil’s Aeneid, Milton’s Paradise Lost, Beowulf, and The Song of Roland. The course will emphasize close reading as the basis for getting to know these works and becoming familiar with the language, epithets, similes, and other stylistic conventions that characterize epic. Students will be expected to develop critical skills in several short and longer papers and learn how to write about epic poetry in a clear and articulate way. Prerequisite(s): EGL 100 or EGL 101 or EGL 102 or a grade of 5 on the AP English Literature or Language test. CC: HUL