THE EPIC, An Essay

Epic poetry, as distinct from more epic material, is the concern of this book," says the author. "The intention is, to determine wherein epic poetry is a definite species of literature, what it characteristically does for conscious human life, and to find out whether this species and this function have shown, and are likely to show, any development." He discusses the points of difference between the "authentic" and the "literary" epic, taking the "Iliad" as the highest type of the one and "Paradise lost" as the best type of the other, and considers among other epic poems "Beowulf," "Song of Roland," and Morris's "Sigurd the Volsung."

Considering the limitation of this short book, Lacelles Abercrombie has covered the heroic stretches of epic achievement (all the long way from Homer to Victor Hugo) with a tact and inclusiveness scarcely to be overpraised.

Every word is well-considered on every page. To his pleasant task he brings knowledge, disciplined taste and an enthusiasm for high poetic accomplishment, which are perhaps the most desirable of all traits in the literary scholar.