Can epic poetry be written in free verse? Of course it can. One of the greatest epics in the English languages, Paradise Lost was written in blank verse, which is similar to free verse. Today there are a number of epics such as Omeros which are written more or less in free verse (Omeros does have some rhyming, but it is very relaxed).
The cool thing about epic poetry today is that there aren’t really any rules for it. There used to be lots of rules, depending on the time period and the culture in which it was written. But all those forms eventually died out, until epic poetry itself declined, probably due to it’s extreme formalization by it’s staunchest supporters. So today we have a clean slate. We can write whatever we want, and we should. If we chain ourselves to the strict obsolete rules of the past, we will never rescucitate epic poetry. I am not saying that we shouldn’t borrow anything from the past, I myself am somewhat of a traditionalist, but we can’t be bound to some artificial rules of what epic poetry ought to be. We have to create new rules for ourselves by means of our own originality and creativity. Every verse form, after all, was at one time someone’s brand new inspiration.
So if you like free-verse epic poetry, by all means write it. If you do, I applaud your efforts. I probably won’t read it though. I’m just too partial to rhyme and rhythm
Click here to read my own epic poem on how medieval knights traveled through space.
i thought omeros was considered on the fringe of a being an epic poem for its deviation from epic subject matter. i think it can written in verse but are there any other arguablely epic poems that have absolutely no meter or rhyme?
Actually, I agree. I would not really consider Omeros an epic poem, or John Barr’s big poem (I forget it’s name) an epic either. In fact, I wouldn’t really consider most 20th century epic poems “epics.”
You may be on to something when you say that true epics need meter, since they have to have a significant narrative element to them. The reason I wrote the above post months ago is to try to appear more open minding in my fanatical attempts to revive popular epic poetry.