An epic is a poetical narrative of heroic achievements. It is largely dramatic in character, but embraces a greater area and admits many incidents, each of which might serve as a dramatic plot.
Some authorities widen the definition of an epic so as to include not only long narrative poems of romantic or supernatural adventure, but also those of a historical, legendary, mock-heroic, or humorous character. An epic is distinguished from a drama in so far as the author frequently speaks in his own person as narrator; and from lyrical poetry by making the predominant feature the narration of action rather than the expression of emotion.
Among the more famous epics of the world's literature may be noted: Homer's Iliad and Odyssey; Virgil's AEneid; the German Nibelungenlied; the Anglo-Saxon poem of Beowulf; the French Song of Roland; Dante's Divina Commedia; Tasso's Gierusalemme Liberata; Ariosto's OrlandoFurioso; Milton's Paradise Lost; Spenser's Fairy Queen; Camoens' Lusiads (Portuguese); and Firdusi's Shah Nameh (Persian). Hesiod's Theogony; the poetic Edda; the Finnish Kalewala; the Indian Mahabharata may be described as collections of epic legends. The historical epic has an excellent representative in Barbour's Bruce; and specimens of the mock-heroic and humorous epic are found in The Battle of the Frogs and Mice; Reynard the Fox; Butler's Hudibras; and Pope's Rape of the Lock. Research Epic
Charlemagne (Charles the Great) was king of France. He was born in 742 and died in 814. His father was Pepin the Short, king of the Franks, son of Charles Martel. On the death of his father, in 768, he was crowned king, and divided the kingdom of the Franks with his younger brother Carloman, at whose death in 771, Charlemagne made himself master of the whole empire, which embraced, besides France, a large part of Germany. His first great enterprise was the conquest of the Saxons, a heathen nation living between the Weser and the Elbe, which he undertook in 772; but it was not until 803 that they were finally subdued, and brought to embrace Christianity. While he was combating the Saxons, PopeAdrian implored his assistance against Desiderius, king of the Lombards. Charlemagne immediately marched with his army to Italy, took Pavia, overthrew Desiderius, and was crowned King of Lombardy with the iron crown.
In 778 he repaired to Spain to assist a Moorish prince, and while returning his troops were surprised in the valley of Roncesvalles by the Biscayans, and the rear-guard defeated; Roland, one of the most famous warriors of those times, fell in the battle. As his power increased, he meditated more seriously the accomplishment of the plan of his ancestor, Charles Martel, to restore the Western Empire. Having gone to Italy to assist the pope, on Christmas-day 800 he was crowned and proclaimed Caesar and Augustus by Leo III.
His son Pepin, who had been made king of Italy, died in 810, and his death was followed the next year by that of Charles, his eldest son. Thus of his legitimate sons one only remained, Louis, king of Aquitania, whom Charlemagne adopted as his colleague in 813.
Charlemagne was a friend of learning, and deserves the name of restorer of the sciences and teacher of his people. He attracted by his liberality the most distinguished scholars to his court (among others, Alcuin, from England), and established an academy in his palace at Aix-la-Chapelle, the sittings of which he attended with all the scientific and literary men of his court. He invited teachers of language and mathematics from Italy to the principal cities of the empire, and founded schools of theology and the liberal sciences in the monasteries. He strove to cultivate his mind by intercourse with scholars; and, to the time of his death, this intercourse remained his favourite recreation. His mother-tongue was a form of German, but he spoke several languages readily, especially Latin, and was naturally eloquent. He sought to improve the liturgy and church music, and attempted unsuccessfully to introduce uniformity of measures and weights.
He built a lighthouse at Boulogne, constructed several ports, encouraged agriculture, and enacted wise laws. He convened councils and parliaments, published capitularies, wrote many letters (some of which are still in existence), a grammar, and several Latin poems. His empire comprehended France, most of Catalonia, Navarre, and Aragon; the Netherlands, Germany as far as the Elbe, Saale, and Eider, Upper and Middle Italy, Istria, and a part of Sclavonia. In private life Charlemagne was exceedingly amiable; a good father and generous friend. In dress and habits he was plain and economical. His only excess was his love of women. In person he was strong and of great stature. He was succeeded by his son Louis le Debonnaire. Research Charlemagne
Henry Austin Dobson was an English poet. He was born in 1840 at Plymouth in 1840 and died in 1921. He was educated at Beaumaris, Coventry, and Strasburg, and in 1856 obtained a clerkship under the Board of Trade, where he rose to be one of the officials known as principals. His earliest verses first appeared in book form under the title Vignettes in Rhyme and Vers de Sociote published in 1873. His other volumes of verse include Proverbs in Porcelain (1877), Old World Idylls (1883), and At the Sign of the Lyre (1885), which the Athenaeum pronounced to be 'of its kind as nearly as possible perfect', Among his prose works may be mentioned his Lives of Hogarth, Fielding, Stede, Goldsmith, Horace Walpole, and Richardson; Thomas Bewick and his Pupils; Four Frenchwomen, a study on Charlotte Corday, the Princesse de Lamballe, and Mesdames Roland and de Genlis; three series of Eighteenth Century Vignettes; A Paladin of Philanthropy, and several editions of standard works. His collected poema were published in one volume in 1897. Many of Henry Dobson's poems are written in various French forms, such as the rondeau and ballade, and all are marked by gracefulness, ease, and careful finish. Research Henry Dobson
Sebastian Roch Nicolas Chamfort was a French writer and revolutionist. He was born in 1741 and died in 1794. By his success as dramatist, critic, and conversationalist he obtained a place in the French Academy, a pension, and a post at court. An intimate friend of Mirabeau, he threw himself heartily into the revolution, was secretary to the club of the Jacobins, was one of the first of the storming party in the attack on the Bastille, and having been employed by Roland in the Bibliotheque Nationale published the first twenty-six Tableaux Historiques de la Revolution. His cynical wit could not, however, restrain itself, and he was denounced and threatened with imprisonment. Rather than undergo it he inflicted fatal injuries upon himself, dying in 1794. He is seen at his best in the collection of bon mots published under the title of Chamfortiana. Research Sebastian Chamfort
Wilhelm Haring, best known as Wilibald Alexis, was a German novelist. He was born in 1797 and died in 1871. He adopted law as a profession, but gave it up in favour of literature. In 1823 and 1827 respectively he published the novels Walladmor and Schloss Avalon, which were translated into English and other languages. These were followed by a long series of writings, consisting not only of novels and novelettes, but of books of travel, plays, ballads, etc. His most important works, however, were historic novels, such as Cabanis, Roland von Berlin, Der Falsche Waldemar, etc. Research Wilhelm Haring
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