Dante's Divine Comedy

The following lists are distilled from Homer and later codified by classical and Renaissance critics. These conventions describe how epics tend to be structured and stylized, especially in the Homeric model.

The traditional epic

The traditional epic form possesses six observable characteristics, all of which can be found in The Divine Comedy.

1. The protagonist is a figure of heroic stature, of national or international importance, and/or of great historical or legendary significance.
2. The setting is vast in scope, covering great nations, the world, or even the universe.
3. The action consists of deeds requiring great valor or superhuman strength.
4. Supernatural forces — gods, angels, and demons — take interest in the action and intervene in it.
5. The style is of sustained elevation and grand simplicity (in content, not necessarily in form or diction).
6. The epic poet recounts the deeds of the protagonist objectively.

The epic conventions

The epic conventions, devices that are incorporated into the style and the story in almost every epic since Homer’s, include the following.

• The poet opens by invoking the Muse — the poet begins by calling upon a divine source of inspiration to help tell the tale.
• In the invocation he states the theme.
• The narrative opens in medias res — the story opens “in the middle of things,” with earlier events revealed through flashback, narration, or embedded tales.
• Cataloguing — long, detailed lists of events, descriptions, persons, conditions, and so forth — is employed.
• The main character and others make extended, formal speeches.
• The poet makes ample use of epic similes — elaborate comparisons more involved and ornate than the usual simple similes.
• The epithet — a stock word or phrase almost inseparably associated with a character, circumstance, condition or idea — is used.
• The plot always includes a descent into the underworld.