Talk by John Holloway
The speaker points out that in spite of efforts made in the nineteenth century by poets such as Tennyson, Arnold, Morris, and Doughty to revive the spirit and practice of epic, the long narrative poem has become virtually an anachronism in England. He examines possible reasons for this and discusses the question whether some of the elements in early epic poetry can still be relevant today.
John Holloway is Lecturer in English in the University of Aberdeen.