express the values of their culture. Thus, epics often
interweave the formation or lionization of a particular
culture or nation into the narrative of their characters.
Besides a heroic focus, other important classical con-
ventions include epic similes, lengthy catalogues of
characters or things, a plot beginning in medias res (in
the middle of things), a journey to the underworld,
and a statement of the epic theme. BEOWULF is the earli-
est extant English epic, and while critics debate how
well it fulfi lls the classical idea of the epic, the poem
fulfi lls many of the criteria. For example, the poem
begins with an extended recapitulation of Scyld Scef-
ing and his heroic lineage, Beowulf appears in the
midst of the uproar over Grendel’s attacks, and he
descends into the mere.
In his DEFENSE OF POESY (ca. 1580), SIR PHILIP SIDNEY
begins to fashion the epic as an important genre to cre-
ate. Epic, he claims, is “the best and most accomplished
kind of poetry.” A contemporary work, The FAERIE
QUEENE (1590 and 1596), is an accomplished exemplar
because its author was an accomplished student of
classical and continental epic. EDWARD SPENSER is not a
pure epic poet, but he uses a number of the aforemen-
tioned epic conventions. For example, each of The
FAERIE QUEENE’s six books states a different epic theme,
there is a catalogue of the descendants and exploits of
Brutus (the ostensible founder of Britain), and the lady
Duessa descends into hell.
See also CLASSICAL TRADITION, EPYLLION.
FURTHER READING
Tillyard, E. M. W. The English Epic and Its Background. New
York: Oxford University Press, 1954.
Craig T. Fehrman
EPIGRAM The epigram—a short, sharp, topical
poem that often ends with a twist—was a popular
medium for Tudor satirists. In one or two STANZAs,
usually in rhymed iambic pentameter, epigrammatists
would, as the titles of their collections claimed, expose
“the abuses of our tyme, which may and ought to be
put away” or create pithy, pleasant, and profi table
verses for “the expert readers of quicke capacitie.” Eas-
ily memorized and often viciously funny, epigrams
could be a powerful verbal weapon for a middle-class
wit to deploy against those with more social or eco-
nomic power. Epigrams are also a rich source of infor-
mation about the objects of their disdain: actors,
prostitutes, drunkards, shrews, rival poets, and the
socially pretentious. Collections of epigrams, often
grouped in “centuries,” or units of 100, remained pop-
ular until the June 1599 ecclesiastical ban on satire.
See also COURT CULTURE, SATIRE.
FURTHER READING
Hudson, Hoyt H. The Epigram in the English Renaissance.
Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1947.
Catherine Loomis“EPITAPHE ON SIR PHILIP SIDNEY,
AN” JAMES VI, KING OF SCOTLAND (1587) SIR
PHILIP SIDNEY was killed in battle in 1586, inspiring the
composition of King James VI’s SONNET, which was
both politically inspired and personally motivated. The
poem features a distinctively Scottish interlaced rhyme
scheme (abab, bcbc, cdcd, ee). Politically, it demon-
strates James’s commitment to melding English and
Scottish interests, although the question of who would
succeed the English queen ELIZABETH I was still in the
future. Personally, it indicates James’s respect for a
great poet.
The fi rst QUATRAIN conventionally asks a trio of gods
to “bewail” (l. 8) Sidney’s death: Mars, god of war;
Minerva, goddess of wisdom and the arts; and Apollo,
Sidney’s divine patron and god of poetry. The second
quatrain connects Apollo to Parnassus (a mountain
near Delphi, Greece) and “the sisters that theron doe
dwell” (l. 5). These are the nine Muses, conventionally
associated with poetic inspiration, now called on to
grieve the loss of one of their most inspired subjects.
The third quatrain and closing COUPLET suggest Sid-
ney’s widespread fame will live on in his own works as
well as James’ commemoration.
See also JAMES VI/I.
FURTHER READING
Craigie, James, ed. The Poems of James VI of Scotland. 2 vols.
Edinburgh: Scottish Text Society, 1955–58.
Westcott, Allan F., ed. New Poems by James I of England.- Reprint, New York: AMS Press, 1966.
Sebastiaan Verweij
166 EPIGRAM