The Epic

Catalog description

Epic poetry is one of the oldest literary genres, and in the western literary tradition it has always been intimately associated with exploring the unknown—whether far-off oceans, the edges of the theological universe, or the dark territory of the self. Surveys four of the most important literary epics in the western tradition: Virgil’s Aeneid, Dante’s Inferno, Milton’s Paradise Lost and Barrett Browning’s Aurora Leigh. All four document how exploring distant realms always, at the end of the day, means exploring yourself. These epics ask their heroes where they came from and where they’re going as ways of forcing them to understand who they are.