"A sudden blow: the great wings beating stillAbove the staggering girl, her thighs caressedBy the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill,He holds her helpless breast upon his breast."This is the way in wich W.B Yeats stars his poem about “Leda and theswan”; this is a story from Greak mythology in wich Zeus -in the form of a Swan- seduces a laidy called Leda. However Yeats was not the first to add the "poetic touch" to Greek mythology; There is something called "Greek epic poetry", wich is one of the oldest forms of literatures.
There are so many epic poems to talk about; from Homero's Illiad and Odyssey -wich are a must reading in every well-rounded education system- to Prometheus Bound and the " Divine Comedy".
The Divine comedy (by Dante Alighieri) It is widely considered the preeminent work of Italian literature and is seen as one of the greatest works of world literature and is about Dante's travel through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise but at a deeper level, it represents, allegorically, the soul's journey towards God; this hystory is taken by another poet called T. S. Eliot; in his poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock", in wich also describes Dante's history.
But what makes the "Divine comedy" so good? I believe the perfect mixed between the beauty of the poetry (since it takes the "Prosa" technique) with the "epicness" of the Greek mythology.
Which others "Epic poems" do you know?
Epic poetry has always been a fascinating kind of poetry, since in general there is shown the role of the “tragedy” in every situation, however, “tragedy” is not considered as a concept related to a fatal event as it may appear, in this kind of poetry “tragedy” is related to the struggle of the protagonist against the destiny, where the desires and willingness of the protagonist will be determinant in the end of his/her journey. This can be related to real life, where people struggles every day in order to be successful at life, regardless the obstacles that life itself can put in front of us.
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