Epic, I suppose, was and in some ways still is regarded as the supreme art form, though these days we have lost the art of epic poetry and resort to other genres, particularly film. It's supposed to offer the widest possibilities for the unfolding of a story, for the relationship between desires, plans and results to be explored and therefore for divine providence, if there is such a thing, to be interrogated. It commonly sets personal stories (Hector and Andromache) against the background of great events. Thus the greatest challenge to a creative mind is the writing of a great epic. If you want to write a great epic your work must bear comparison with the greatest, which in Virgil's time and to some extent now means Homer's works. For Virgil the challenge was to adapt Homer's ideas about strife, heroism and good government for his own generation and to the extraordinary Roman predicament - extraordinary because it combined world power with civil war. There was also the challenge to Homer offered by Plato, who thinks that Homer brings religion into disrepute, and by Epicurus and Lucretius, who think that Homer's powwer as a poet is the main thing which still keeps religion/superstition alive. There is also the question raised by Homer himself about whether poets are liars and whether they can contribute to the reconstitution of shattered societies. - Martin Hughes
On Sun, 18 Apr 1999, Erica A Sommerville wrote: > To Whomever desires to reply, > I have begun to heavily research Virgil for a research project I have > coming up. I'm very excited about this but I like to get ideas on why > Virgil wrote so many passages in his Aeneid that paralleled Homer's > works. I'm going to look myself at the texts for the specific passages > and their importance to his influence, but I would like ideas on this > particular topic. Thank you! > Sincerely, > Erica > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. > Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message > "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You > can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub
