Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

I

THE HEROIC AGE PAGE

Epic and Romance: the two great orders of medieval narrative 3

_Epic_, of the "heroic age," preceding _Romance_ of the "age of chivalry" 4

The heroic age represented in three kinds of literature--Teutonic Epic, French Epic, and the Icelandic Sagas 6

Conditions of Life in an "heroic age" 7

Homer and the Northern poets 9

Homeric passages in _Beowulf_ 10 and in the _Song of Maldon_ 11

Progress of poetry in the heroic age 13

Growth of Epic, distinct in character, but generally incomplete, among the Teutonic nations 14

II

EPIC AND ROMANCE

The complex nature of Epic 16

No kind or aspect of life that may not be included 16

This freedom due to the dramatic quality of true (_e.g._ Homeric) Epic 17 as explained by Aristotle 17

Epic does not require a magnificent ideal subject 18 such as those of the artificial epic (_Aeneid_, _Gerusalemme Liberata_, _Paradise Lost_) 18

The _Iliad_ unlike these poems in its treatment of "ideal" motives (patriotism, etc.) 19

True Epic begins with a dramatic plot and characters 20

The Epic of the Northern heroic age is sound in its dramatic conception 20 and does not depend on impersonal ideals (with exceptions, in the _Chansons de geste_) 21

The German heroes in history and epic (Ermanaric, Attila, Theodoric) 21

Relations of Epic to historical fact 22

The epic poet is free in the conduct of his story 23 but his story and personages must belong to his own people 26

Nature of Epic brought out by contrast with secondary narrative poems, where the subject is not national 27

This secondary kind of poem may be excellent, but is always different in character from native Epic 28

Disputes of academic critics about the "Epic Poem" 30

Tasso's defence of Romance. Pedantic attempts to restrict the compass of Epic 30

Bossu on Phaeacia 31

Epic, as the most comprehensive kind of poetry, includes Romance as one of its elements 32 but needs a strong dramatic imagination to keep Romance under control 33

III

ROMANTIC MYTHOLOGY

Mythology not required in the greatest scenes in Homer 35

Myths and popular fancies may be a hindrance to the epic poet, but he is compelled to make some use of them 36

He criticises and selects, and allows the characters of the gods to be modified in relation to the human characters 37

Early humanism and reflexion on myth--two processes: (1) rejection of the grosser myths; (2) refinement of myth through poetry 40

Two ways of refining myth in poetry--(1) by turning it into mere fancy, and the more ludicrous things into comedy; (2) by finding an imaginative or an ethical meaning in it 40

Instances in Icelandic literature--_Lokasenna_ 41

Snorri Sturluson, his ironical method in the _Edda_ 42

The old gods rescued from clerical persecution 43

Imaginative treatment of the graver myths--the death of Balder; the Doom of the Gods 43

Difficulties in the attainment of poetical self-command 44

Medieval confusion and distraction 45

Premature "culture" 46

Depreciation of native work in comparison with ancient literature and with theology 47

An Icelandic gentleman's library 47

The whalebone casket 48

Epic not wholly stifled by "useful knowledge" 49

IV

THE THREE SCHOOLS--TEUTONIC EPIC--FRENCH EPIC--THE ICELANDIC HISTORIES

Early failure of Epic among the Continental Germans 50

Old English Epic invaded by Romance (Lives of Saints, etc.) 50

Old Northern (Icelandic) poetry full of romantic mythology 51

French Epic and Romance contrasted 51

Feudalism in the old French Epic (_Chansons de Geste_) not unlike the prefeudal "heroic age" 52

But the _Chansons de Geste_ are in many ways "romantic" 53

Comparison of the English _Song of Byrhtnoth_ (_Maldon_, A.D. 991) with the _Chanson de Roland_ 54

Severity and restraint of _Byrhtnoth_ 55

Mystery and pathos of _Roland_ 56

Iceland and the German heroic age 57

The Icelandic paradox--old-fashioned politics together with clear understanding 58

Icelandic prose literature--its subject, the anarchy of the heroic age; its methods, clear and positive 59

The Icelandic histories, in prose, complete the development of the early Teutonic Epic poetry 60