![]() |
William Morris' The Proud King |
An epic poem is a lengthy narrative poem ordinarily concerning a
serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a
culture or nation. The main purpose of an epic is to tell the story or
experience of a person or race.
Just like metaphysical poems, epic poems have unique features that
distinguish them from other poems. From personal analysis, William Morris' 'The
Proud King' can be best classified as an epic poem due to its epic features:
A notable feature of an epic poem is its length. An epic poem is a
lengthy narrative that tells the story or experience of a person, people or
nation. Inarguably, William Morris' 'The Proud King' is a lengthy narrative of
about 849 lines that tells the story or experience of a very influential and
affluential king, King Jovinian.
Again, the hero in an epic poem is a figure of great
nationality or even cosmic importance. From the setting of the poem which
is a very mighty and prosperous European kingdom, governed by a wealthy and
very powerful king, one cannot deny the fact that the hero of the poem, king
Jovinian is of great nationality and even cosmic importance, whose powers
cannot be compared with that of other kings. Lines 23 and 24 delineate him as a
king whose powers are unprecedented and unparalled. He is an absolute monarch
who rules over a whole expanse of territory.
Another feature of an epic poem is its setting. The setting of an
epic poem is ample in scale and maybe worldwide or even larger. This feature is
also evident in William Morris' 'The Proud King.' The poem is set in the
medieval period, at a time when kings in Europe ruled as absolute sovereigns of
their land. Therefore, the image created in the mind of the reader of this poem
is that the location or setting is a very large, mighty and prosperous European
kingdom which has an affluent and influential king as its leader. Even in our
present society, the European kingdom which is headed by the Queen of England,
is a kingdom that is very mighty and influential when compared with other
kingdoms in the world.
The actions of epic poems involve superhuman deeds and in this
great actions, the gods and other supernatural beings take an interest or an
active part. This feature is fully evident in William Morris' 'The Proud King.'
There is an active involvement of the supernatural in the poem when King
Jovinian due to his achievements, assumes the position of God. He compares
himself with God (line 28) and this piques the interest of God in King
Jovinian's case just like the case of King Nebuchadnezzar in the bible.
While King Jovinian goes into the forest with his servants, God deceives him
with 'a mighty hart' (line 64) which the king follows to a river, leaving his
servants behind in the process. God further makes king Jovinian to parade
himself naked before his subjects. He makes him unrecognisable and takes over
his kingdom until King Jovinian realizes his mistakes and consequently asks for
forgiveness. This is a clear indication that the supernatural takes an active part
in an epic poem.
In sum, from the aforementioned points, it will be considered an
error if anyone fails to consider William Morris' 'The Proud King' as an epic
poem.
I want to share my testimony on how i was able to get back my wife around September last year with the help of Dr Kabaka. My wife left me for over 3years and went on with another man and i was unable to move on with my life because of the love i have for him last month i saw a testimony on the internet on how Dr Kabaka. help someone with love spell so i never believe it but just have to try my faith which i did and i contacted him on his email: [email protected] and he told me what i need to do and after 2days i received a call from my wife asking me to come back to her it was all like a dream to me i am so happy now as we are back together again thanks to Dr Kabaka and i will advice anyone in need of help to contact him whatsapp +2349015857861.
ReplyDelete