So here before the unattempted task,
Above the Golden Ocean of my dream
I clomb and saw in splendid pageant pass
The wild adventures and heroic deeds

Of England's epic age-a vision lit

With mighty prophecies, fraught with a doom
Worthy the great Homeric roll of song,

Yet all unsung and unrecorded quite

By those who might have touched with Raphael's hand

The large imperial legend of our race.

Mother and love, fair England, hear my prayer;
Help me that I may tell the enduring tale
Of that great seaman, good at need, who first
Sailed round this globe and made one little isle,
One little isle against that huge Empire
Of Spain, whose might was paramount on earth,
O'ertopping Babylon, Nineveh, Greece and Rome,
Carthage and all huge Empires of the past—
He made this little isle, against the world,
Queen of the earth and sea. Nor this alone
The theme; for, in a mightier strife engaged

Even than he knew, he fought for the new faiths,
Championing our manhood as it rose

And cast its feudal chains before the seat
Of kings;-nay, in a mightier battle yet

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He fought for the soul's freedom, fought the fight
Which, though it still rings in our wondering ears,
Was won then and for ever.

If my poor song

Now spread too wide a sail, forgive thy son
And lover, for thy love was ever wont
To lift men up in pride above themselves.

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To do great deeds which of themselves alone

They could not, thou hast led the unfaltering feet

Of even thy meanest heroes down to death,

Lifted poor knights to many a great emprise,

65

Taught them high thoughts, and though they kept their souls
Lowly as little children, bidden them lift

Eyes unappalled by all the myriad stars

That wheel around the great white throne of God.

SUGGESTIONS TO STUDENTS

1. See if you can discover from these lines of the Exordium of "Drake" what the great epic struggle is and how it ends. Can you also see what will tend to unify the series of adventures or episodes that will be treated in the longer poem? 2. You will be interested in reading the whole epic, for the movement is rapid and the adventures thrilling. It will have an added interest for you if you have studied the Elizabethan period in your history class. 3. In what marked respects does this epic, written in the twentieth century, differ from those of an earlier time? Can you explain why? 4. What material for a great epic can you find in the World War of the twentieth century? In what respects is this another heroic age? What is the great epic cause or struggle? What are the powerful opposing forces? How and why are they overcome? 5. Show that the theme is of epic magnitude. What are the deep, elemental passions involved? 6. Show that the moral lies deeply embedded in the events. 7. What elements of twentieth century civilization are shown? 8. Who are the great characters that further or hinder the accomplishment of the struggle in which they are engaged? What especially causes our interest in them? 9. Name some of the distinct episodes. What binds them together? 10. What other epic characteristics can you find? 11. Why is it not possible for such a poem to be adequately treated before a lapse of years?

Note. The first true American great epic seems to be in the process of realization in the cycle of poems which Mr. John Neihardt is now weaving about the region between the British possessions and Mexico, and westward from the Missouri river to the Pacific coast. He has chosen as the general time of his epic the days of the Ashley-Henry furtrading expeditions of the first part of the nineteenth century. Two poems of the cycle that have already been evolved, "The Song of Three Friends" and "The Song of Hugh Glass," 1 show what may be anticipated from the finished work. These have been published separately, but will later, it seems, become parts of the larger whole. They are exceedingly fascinating, and well worth reading.

Some Other Works Closely Allied to the Great Epic.There are several other works that come near the great epic in general spirit and yet are not, truly speaking, great epics. Tennyson's "Idylls of the King" are "a series of epical episodes" rather than a closely welded, unified epic. This material might have been treated so that it would have become a great epic of Arthurian or Celtic England. Tennyson, however, deliberately gave up this idea, for he says:

1 Published by the Macmillan Company.

Longfellow's "Hiawatha" is almost a great epic of early American Indian life.

"The Robin Hood Ballads" are also not closely enough woven together and unified to become a true epic, although here again is material that might have been made into an epic of Norman England. There are some thirty-five or forty of these short poems that grew up among the people, and they are mentioned in this connection because the material in them is the kind out of which folk-epics have been made. Indeed here we may really see a great epic in the process of development, although, unfortunately, it was never fully completed. Some poet, it is true, saw the larger significance behind the many stories and attempted to unite them into one. Although he told an interesting story for the most part, he failed, however, to set forth a great epic purpose toward which the action tended, and the poem falls away into confusion at the end. Today we think of the Robin Hood poems more as separate ballads, a type which will be understood more fully through the study of the chapter on ballads.

Pope, in his "Rape of the Lock," wrote a mock-epic purely for the sake of ridicule. In this poem he imitated the style and movement of the great epic, but made the theme, characters, and cause utterly trivial. De Quincey said of it," "The Rape of the Lock' is the most exquisite monument of playful fancy that universal literature offers."

SUGGESTIONS TO STUDENTS

1. Since you, no doubt, have some knowledge of "The Idylls of the King" and "Hiawatha" from the work of other years of your course, try to see for yourselves why these are not truly great epics. Although Arthur is the central figure of "The Idylls of the King,” for instance, and the scenes are laid at his court, among the Knights of the Round Table, 1 "The Epic" by Tennyson.

2 "The Geste of Robin Hood."

do you find that there is a great, unifying action or struggle which dominates everything else? Do you not, instead, find that, though there might have been abundant reasons for such a struggle, the author has been content to focus our attention only on the experiences of individual knights and ladies instead of making the big, heroic national story the main thing? Can you see now just what prevents the different Hiawatha poems from becoming a great epic? Are we interested in Hiawatha for himself, or because he is furthering a great national struggle?

2. It may prove interesting for you to read "The Rape of the Lock," or parts of it, outside of class, in order to see how Pope imitates the characteristics of a great epic, but makes everything ridiculous because so petty. Here the struggle is over a lock of hair which a young noble of Queen Anne's court cuts off, at a ball, from a young lady's head. The weapons used in the struggle are "killing glances," frowns, and piercing words. The supernatural beings who control the situation are not gods and goddesses, but tiny creatures-the sprites, nymphs, salamanders, and gnomes.

REVIEW

1. Before going on to the next chapter, review what you have learned about the great epic as a type. Do you think you will be able to recognize the type and to prove why a poem is, or is not, a great epic? 2. What general information regarding the epics of the world have you gained? 3. Have you enjoyed this work? If you have, you have made good progress, because, aside from Shakespeare, King David, and the three great writers of Greek tragedy, the greatest writers of world literature are to be found among the epic poets.