Editing Epic poetry (section)

=== Form ===
Many verse forms have been used in epic poems through the ages, but each language's literature typically gravitates to one form, or at least to a very limited set.

Ancient Sumerian epic poems did not use any kind of [[Meter (poetry)|poetic meter]] and [[Line (poetry)|lines]] did not have consistent lengths;<ref name=Kramer-1963>{{cite book
 |last=Kramer |first=Samuel Noah |author-link=Samuel Noah Kramer
 |year=1963
 |title=The Sumerians: Their history, culture, and character
 |location=Chicago, Illinois
 |publisher=University of Chicago Press
 |isbn=978-0-226-45238-8
 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/sumerianstheirhi00samu/page/184 184–185]
 |url=https://archive.org/details/sumerianstheirhi00samu
}}</ref>
instead, Sumerian poems derived their rhythm solely through constant [[Repetition (rhetorical device)|repetition]] and [[parallelism (rhetoric)|parallelism]], with subtle variations between lines.<ref name=Kramer-1963 />
[[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] epic poetry, by contrast, usually places strong emphasis on the importance of line consistency and poetic meter.<ref name=Kramer-1963 /> Ancient Greek epics were composed in dactylic [[hexameter]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia
 |title=Hexameter
 |department=poetry
 |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica
 |url=https://www.britannica.com/art/hexameter
}}</ref>
Very early Latin epicists, such [[Livius Andronicus]] and [[Gnaeus Naevius]], used [[Saturnian (poetry)|Saturnian]] meter. By the time of [[Ennius]], however, Latin poets had adopted [[dactylic hexameter]].

Dactylic hexameter has been adapted by a few anglophone poets such as [[Longfellow]] in "[[Evangeline]]", whose first line is as follows:

:This is the | forest pri | meval. The | murmuring | pines and the | hemlocks

Old English, German and Norse poems were written in [[alliterative verse]],<ref>{{cite encyclopedia
 |title=Alliterative verse
 |department=literature
 |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica
 |url=https://www.britannica.com/art/alliterative-verse
}}</ref>
usually without [[rhyme]]. The alliterative form can be seen in the Old English "[[Finnsburg Fragment]]" (alliterated sounds are in bold):

{{Verse translation|
Ac on'''w'''acnigeað nū,     '''w'''īgend mīne<ref>"The Finnsburg Fragment", line 10</ref>
'''e'''alra '''ǣ'''rest     '''e'''orðbūendra,<ref>"The Finnsburg Fragment", line 32</ref>
|But awake now, my warriors,
of all first the men
}}
While the above classical and Germanic forms would be considered [[stichic]], Italian, Spanish and Portuguese long poems favored [[stanza]]ic forms, usually written in [[terza rima]]<ref>{{cite encyclopedia
 |title=Terza rima
 |department=poetic form
 |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica
 |url=https://www.britannica.com/art/terza-rima
}}</ref>
or especially [[ottava rima]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia
 |title=Ottava rima
 |department=poetic form
 |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica
 |url=https://www.britannica.com/art/ottava-rima
}}</ref>
''Terza rima'' is a [[rhyme|rhyming]] [[Verse (poetry)|verse]] [[stanza]] form that consists of an [[hocket|interlocking]] three-line [[rhyme]] scheme. An example is found in the first lines of the [[Divine Comedy]] by [[Dante]], who originated the form:

{{poem quote|''Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita'' (A)
''mi ritrovai per una selva oscura'' (B)
''ché la diritta via era smarrita.'' (A)

''Ahi quanto a dir qual era è cosa dura'' (B)
''esta selva selvaggia e aspra e forte'' (C)
''che nel pensier rinnova la paura!'' (B)
}}

In [[ottava rima]], each stanza consists of three alternate rhymes and one double rhyme, following the ABABABCC [[rhyme scheme]]. Example:
{{Verse translation|
{{lang|it|Canto l'arme pietose, e 'l Capitano
Che 'l gran sepolcro liberò di Cristo.
Molto egli oprò col senno e con la mano;
Molto soffrì nel glorioso acquisto:
E invan l'Inferno a lui s'oppose; e invano
s'armò d'Asia e di Libia il popol misto:
Chè 'l Ciel gli diè favore, e sotto ai santi
Segni ridusse i suoi compagni erranti.}}
|attr1={{cite book
        |author=[[Torquato Tasso|Tasso]]
        |title=[[Gerusalemme Liberata]]
        |at=lines&nbsp;1–8
       }}
|
The sacred armies, and the godly knight,
That the great sepulchre of Christ did free,
I sing; much wrought his valor and foresight,
And in that glorious war much suffered he;
In vain 'gainst him did Hell oppose her might,
In vain the Turks and Morians armèd be:
His soldiers wild, to brawls and mutines prest,
Reducèd he to peace, so Heaven him blest.
|attr2=Translation by [[Edward Fairfax]]}}

From the 14th century English epic poems were written in [[heroic couplet]]s,<ref>{{cite encyclopedia
 |title=Heroic couplet
 |department=poetry
 |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica
 |url=https://www.britannica.com/art/heroic-couplet
}}</ref>
and [[rhyme royal]],<ref>{{cite encyclopedia
 |title=Rhyme royal
 |department=poetic form
 |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica
 |url=https://www.britannica.com/art/rhyme-royal
}}</ref>
though in the 16th century the [[Spenserian stanza]]<ref>{{cite encyclopedia
 |title=Spenserian stanza
 |department=poetic form
 |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica
 |url=https://www.britannica.com/art/Spenserian-stanza
}}</ref>
and [[blank verse]]<ref>{{cite encyclopedia
 |title=Blank verse
 |department=poetic form
 |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica
 |url=https://www.britannica.com/art/blank-verse
}}</ref>
were also introduced. The [[French alexandrine]] is currently the heroic line in French literature, though in earlier literature – such as the [[chanson de geste]] – the [[decasyllable]] grouped in [[laisse]]s took precedence. In Polish literature, couplets of [[Polish alexandrine]]s (syllabic lines of 7+6 syllables) prevail.<ref>{{cite book
 |contribution=Trzynastozgłoskowiec
 |first=Wiktor Jarosław |last=Darasz
 |title=Mały przewodnik po wierszu polskim
 |place=Kraków
 |year=2003
 |language=Polish
}}</ref>
In Russian, [[iambic tetrameter]] verse is the most popular.<ref>{{cite book
 |first=Alexandra |last=Smith
 |title=Montaging Pushkin: Pushkin and visions of modernity in Russian twentieth century poetry
 |page=184
}}{{full citation needed|date=August 2021|reason=pub. date, publisher, place, ISBN}}</ref>
In Serbian poetry, the decasyllable is the only form employed.<ref>{{cite book
 |first=David |last=Meyer
 |date=27 November 2013
 |title=Early Tahitian Poetics
 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter
 |isbn=978-1-61451-375-9
 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6qTpBQAAQBAJ&q=serbian+decasyllableDavid&pg=PA8
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
 |first=R.W. |last=Seton-Watson
 |orig-date=1915 |date=2012-10-06
 |title=The Spirit of the Serb
 |website=Britić (britic.co.uk)
 |url=http://www.britic.co.uk/2012/10/06/the-spirit-of-the-serb-r-w-seton-watson-1915/
}}</ref>

[[Baltic Finns|Balto-Finnic]] (e.g. Estonian, Finnish, Karelian) folk poetry uses a form of [[trochaic tetrameter]] that has been called the Kalevala meter. The Finnish and Estonian national epics, ''[[Kalevala]]'' and ''[[Kalevipoeg]]'', are both written in this meter. The meter is thought to have originated during the [[Finnic languages|Proto-Finnic]] period.<ref>{{cite book
 | editor1-first=Matti   |editor1-last=Kuusi  |editor1-link=Matti Kuusi
 | editor2-first=Keith   |editor2-last=Bosley |editor2-link=Keith Bosley
 | editor3-first=Michael |editor3-last=Branch
 | year = 1977
 | title = Finnish Folk Poetry: Epic: An Anthology in Finnish and English
 | publisher = Finnish Literature Society
 | isbn = 951-717-087-4
 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/finnishfolkpoetr00kuus/page/62 62–64]
 | url-access = registration
 | url = https://archive.org/details/finnishfolkpoetr00kuus/page/62
}}</ref>

In Indic epics such as the [[Ramayana]] and [[Mahabharata]], the [[shloka]] form is used.