Narrative Poetry:
* Scope: Focuses on a single, relatively limited event or series of events.
* Purpose: Primarily to tell a story, often with a clear beginning, middle, and end.
* Style: Can be written in various forms and meters, including ballad, ballad stanza, lyrical, and even free verse.
* Characters: Characters are typically individuals with specific personalities and motivations.
* Setting: Setting is often specific and detailed.
* Themes: Themes can be personal, social, or philosophical, but they are usually explored through the individual experiences of the characters.
* Examples: "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe, "The Lady of Shalott" by Alfred Lord Tennyson, "The Odyssey" by Homer (although sometimes considered an epic, it can be viewed as a narrative due to its focus on Odysseus' individual journey).
Epic Poetry:
* Scope: Covers a grand and expansive story, often spanning generations or entire civilizations.
* Purpose: To celebrate the deeds and values of a nation, culture, or hero.
* Style: Typically written in elevated, formal language with a grand and epic tone. Often uses a specific meter and rhyme scheme (like dactylic hexameter in the *Iliad*).
* Characters: Includes larger-than-life heroes, gods, monsters, and other mythical figures.
* Setting: Setting is often vast and fantastical, encompassing mythical lands and realms.
* Themes: Themes explore universal human experiences, such as courage, love, loss, fate, and the relationship between humans and the divine.
* Examples: *The Iliad* and *The Odyssey* by Homer, *Beowulf*, *The Aeneid* by Virgil, *Paradise Lost* by John Milton.
Here's a simple way to remember the difference:
* Narrative poetry: Think "storytelling."
* Epic poetry: Think "grand, heroic saga."
In essence, narrative poetry is the story while epic poetry is the grand, heroic song about that story.