(_a_) The general World-condition of the Epos
[(_α_) A positive social state conjoined to primitive
simplicity. Intuitive sense of right the support of moral
order. Vital human association with nature and particular
objects possessed. Heroic condition, _e.g.,_ that of free
individuality. Examples. Expresses entire horizon of
national condition
(_β_) The mirror must be of one particular people. The
Hellenic spirit in Homer. A foreign locale not necessarily
prejudicial to artistic effect. The remoteness to present
ideas of the "Niebelungen Lied"
(_γ_) Main event of poem must be a deliberately conceived
purpose. It must imply collisions. The belligerent condition
most pertinent. The Odyssey not only an exception. Courage
the fundamental interest. Justification of such attitude]
(_b_) The individual Epic action
[(_α_) Must be one of individual vitality. Must appropriate
form of an event, and the happening of such. Analysis.
Problem of an absolute Epos. Mere biography not most
complete subject-matter. "The Divine Comedy" only partially
an exception
(_β_) Question of human personality implied. Epic character
must be a totality. Achilles, the Cid, and other heroes,
discussed. Circumstances as active as persons. Illustrations
(_γ_) The form under which the intrinsic significance of
the occurrence proclaims itself, whether as ideal Necessity
or disclosed spiritual forces. Destiny. What it defines.
General tone of sadness in the Epic. Different modes of
appearance. Poems of Ossian, and others. Loss of original
freshness in Latin poetry. Virgil]
(_c_) The Epos as unified totality
[(_α_) The unity of the assumed general background and
the individuals therein. Humanity displayed in its entire
collective relation of all interests and occupations. The
individual event. The commencement of the Iliad and Odyssey
(_β_) The difference between the epic mode of disclosure and
that of the Lyric or drama. Greater extension of range. In
the epic work character may give way to external condition.
Objective nature of its exposition. Motivisation of drama
and the Epic entirely different. Examples from Homer and
modern poetry
(_γ_) Nature of unity of Epos. Though not of most importance
essential to artistic result. Insistence upon fundamental
unity of the Homeric poems. Epic unity within a national
whole. Distinction from dramatic action. The Idyll. The
novel as the Epopaea of modern society]