Heroes Gods and the Role of Epiphany in English Epic Poetry

<p> This book examines how epic poetry reflects cultural values and how in epic poems the heroes must meet supernatural beings to find answers to essential questions. It begins with three chapters on ancient poetry (including <I>The Iliad</I> and <I>The Odyssey</I> the <I>Mahabharata</I> the <I>Epic of Gilgamesh</I> the <I>Aeneid</I> and the <I>Bhagavad Gita</I>). Subsequent chapters take up the main subject of the book examining the evolution of English epic poetry from the anonymous Old English <I>Beowulf</I> to Spenser's <I>The Faerie Queen</I> Milton's <I>Paradise Lost</I> Blake's <I>Milton</I> Wordsworth's <I>The Prelude</I> Barett Browning's <I>Aurora Leigh</I> and Derek Walcott's 1990 poem <I>Omeros</I>.</p>