heroic poem
Grand adventure ballad
A heroic poem is a long narrative poem celebrating the deeds of legendary or historical figures—warriors, kings, founders of nations.
The term encompasses epics like the *Iliad*, *Beowulf*, and *Paradise Lost*.
These poems typically employ elevated language and formal verse structures befitting their grand subjects.
Courage in danger
- courageFortitude facing danger
- braveryBoldness before danger
- prowessOutstanding skill or valor
- gloryExalted honor and praise
honor · fate · destiny · hubris · nemesis · immortality · renown · sacrifice
Poet of epics
- skaldNorse heroic poet
- minstrelTraveling performer of songs
- troubadourMedieval Provençal lyric poet
- recitationOral delivery from memory
oral tradition · lyre · harp · chanting · griot · memory · audience · feast hall
Device that measures usage
- hexameterSix-foot poetic line
- dactylicThree-beat poetic meter
- stanzaPoem's line grouping
- cantoDivision of long verse
verse · rhyme · alliteration · kenning · epithet · invocation · caesura · enjambment
Extended adventurous journey
- infernoDevastating, uncontrollable blaze
- metamorphosesThorough changes in form
- homerOut-of-the-park hit
- hexameterSix-foot poetic line
dactylic · invocation · catalogue · epithet · in medias res · muse · cantos · books
Supernatural beings worshipped
- pantheonAll gods of a religion
- titansDominant powerful figures
- demigodsHalf-mortal, half-divine beings
- divine interventionGodly action in affairs
prophecy · oracle · cosmogony · theogony · creation · apocalypse
valor
Courage in danger
glory · honor · fate · destiny · hubris · nemesis · immortality · renown · sacrifice · loyalty
bard
Poet of epics
- skaldNorse heroic poet
- minstrelTraveling performer of songs
- troubadourMedieval Provençal lyric poet
recitation · oral tradition · lyre · harp · chanting · griot · memory · audience · feast hall · patronage
meter
Device that measures usage
canto · verse · rhyme · alliteration · kenning · epithet · invocation · caesura · enjambment · strophe
odyssey
Extended adventurous journey
- infernoDevastating, uncontrollable blaze
- metamorphosesThorough changes in form
- homerOut-of-the-park hit
hexameter · dactylic · invocation · catalogue · epithet · in medias res · muse · cantos · books
gods
Supernatural beings worshipped
- pantheonAll gods of a religion
- titansDominant powerful figures
- demigodsHalf-mortal, half-divine beings
divine intervention · prophecy · oracle · cosmogony · theogony · creation · apocalypse
journey
Travel from place to place
pilgrimage · trial · labors · homecoming · wandering · exile · return · obstacles · monsters · transformation
- folktalesfolktales, animal fables, folktale, moral fables, fairy tales
- epic poetryIliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, Paradise Lost, Beowulf
- epicsIliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, Beowulf, Gilgamesh
- Baroque poetryconceit, conceits, rhetorical flourish, ornamentation, court poetry
heroic poemprose fiction
Imaginary tales in sentences
prose · novel · short story · essay · journalistic writing
heroic poemburlesque
Exaggerated mockery or risqué variety
parody · doggerel · comic verse · limerick · light verse
hero, poem, epic, heroine, heroes, superhero, superheroes, antihero, heroically