Epic%20Vocabulary

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Epic Vocabulary

• 19 terms

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Epic

• Long story
• told in poetry
• relates the great deeds of a larger-than-life
  hero
• who embodies the values of a particular society

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Myth

• Traditional story - serves to explain a belief

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odyssey

• a long journey marked by changes in fortune

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Culture

• socially transmitted behavior patterns (arts,
  beliefs, institutions)

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Epic hero

• a main character in an epic
• whose legendary or heroic actions are central to
  his/her culture, race, or nation

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Epic simile

• a simile developed over several lines of verse,
  elaborated in great detail
• Also called a Homeric simile

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Monotheism

• belief that there is only one God

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Polytheism

• belief in many gods

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Epithet

• Adjective or descriptive phrase that is regularly
  used to characterize a person, place, or thing
• Honest Abe

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Goddess

• A female god

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Oracle

• A person (such as a priestess) through whom a god
  is believed to speak through

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Rhapsode

• A poet who uses extravagantly enthusiastic or
  impassioned language
• One who recited epic and other poetry, especially
  professionally, in ancient Greece

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Rhapsody

• An ancient Greek epic poem (or a portion of one
  suitable for uninterrupted recitation)

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Muse

• Any goddess presiding over a particular art
• (sometimes lowercase ) the goddess or the power
  regarded as inspiring a poet, artist, thinker, or
  the like

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Alter ego

• Another side of oneself a second self

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Oral tradition

• Stories passed down from one generation to the
  next

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Homer

• 9th-century b.c., Greek epic poet reputed author
  of the Iliad and Odyssey

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Archetype

• An original model or type after which other
  similar things are patterned a prototype
• "'Frankenstein' . . . 'Dracula' . . . 'Dr. Jekyll
  and Mr. Hyde' . . . the archetypes that have
  influenced all subsequent horror stories" (New
  York Times)

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The Iliad

• The older of the two surviving ancient Greek epic
  poems
• (traditionally ascribed to Homer but containing
  material composed orally over several centuries.
  It begins with the wrathful withdrawal of the
  Greek hero Achilles from the fighting in the
  Trojan War and ends after his return to slay the
  Trojan hero Hector)