Epic
The set authors are Homer, Virgil, Lucan, Milton, Dryden and Pope; the paper contains two compulsory commentary questions and two essay questions. In the first commentary question, candidates must comment on and bring out points of comparison between either a passage of Homer or a passage of Virgil and one or more English translations; specific books of Homer and Virgil are set for this purpose (currently Odyssey 6 and 9-12, or Aeneid 7, 8 and 12). The second compulsory commentary question is on a passage of Milton's Paradise Lost.
This paper focusses on the most prestigious and influential poetic genre in Greco-Roman poetry, and on some of its most distinguished and important versions and descendants in English poetry.
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