The English Epic and Its Background

by E.M.W. Tillyard

The nature of the epic and its examples from classical times through the 18th century.

Genres: Literary Criticism

560 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1954

About the author

Eustace Mandeville Wetenhall (E. M. W.) Tillyard OBE was an English classical and literary scholar who was Master of Jesus College, Cambridge from 1945 to 1959.

Reviews

[Peter Spaulding · Rating 4 out of 5]

More like a 3.5

Everything wrong with this comes down to his not acknowledging Dante. There are 10x the number of pages on Langland that there are on Dante. I get wanting to have more of an investigation of truly “English” epic, but there’s a case to be made that Dante has more influence in English epic poetry than anyone actually writing in English in the Middle Ages.

[Gilbert Wesley Purdy · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is difficult to imagine this done better in the same number of pages and with limited footnotes. Tillyard always knows his subject intimately well. He starts with the classical authors who either wrote epics or wrote works that might pass with a more liberal definition of the epic, giving each a separate chapter interspersed with chapters on major themes. The pattern remains the same throughout each era of British history through Alexander Pope and Edward Gibbon.