Heroic Age (literary theory)

Some 20th-century studies of oral poetry and traditional literature postulate Heroic Ages as stages in the development of human societies likely to give rise to legends about heroic deeds. According to some theorists, oral epic poetry would originate during an Heroic Age, and would be transmitted, by singers who displayed less creativity, through later periods. Scholars who adopted Heroic Age theories include:

• Maurice Bowra (1898–1971)
• Hector Munro Chadwick (1870–1947) and Nora Kershaw Chadwick (1891–1972)

A widely-shared view was that each society would pass through a Heroic Age only once. This apparently explains why, in the Chadwicks' survey of world-wide oral and traditional poetry, The Growth of Literature (published 1932–1940),^[1] medieval European epics such as the French Chansons de geste and the Spanish Cantar de Mio Cid are omitted: those societies are taken to have passed through a Heroic Age earlier.

Bryan Hainsworth has suggested that in the various so-called Heroic Ages named by modern scholars "what is described is a by-product ... of the tendency of heroic poetry to congeal into cycles, often ... around a signal event".^[2]

Conventionally, Heroic Ages may feature martial^[3] aristocratic^[4] and monarchical^[5] societies, with values focused on honor, reputation, bravery,^[6] generosity and friendship.

Historicity of the Ages

Oral tales have been formed into classic literature centuries later, so that the historicity of the events is left to uncertainty. The Greek Heroic Age as described in the Iliad is dated to historic events in 1460 to 1103 BC according to the chronology of Saint Jerome.

The Germanic Heroic Age as reflected in the Nibelungen can be dated to the 5th century picking up scenes from the foundation of Germanic kingdoms in Western Europe near the end of the first phase of the Völkerwanderung. The literature characters may refer to the historic Brunhilda (543–613) and Gundobad (480–516).

The Tamils of South India have an extensive literature describing their Heroic Age (the Sangam period). The Sangam poems share common themes with their Greek and German counterparts, such as glory, victory, fate and honour. The Sangam age is dated to between the 3rd century B.C.E and 2nd century C.E. However, the events described have been transmitted orally from an earlier period. This is evidenced by the oral nature of the poems which (like the Iliad and Odyssey) use epithets and other metrical devices common in oral poetry.

Bibliography

• C. M. Bowra, Heroic poetry. London: Macmillan, 1952.
• H. M. Chadwick, The Heroic Age. London, 1912.
• H. Munro Chadwick, N. Kershaw Chadwick, The growth of literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1932-40.
• J. B. Hainsworth, The Iliad: a commentary. Vol. 3: books 9-12. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.

References

1. Chadwick, Hector Munro; Chadwick, Nora K. (2010) [1932]. The Growth of Literature 3 Volume Paperback Set. Cambridge Library Collection - Literary Studies. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781108016193. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
2. Edwards, Mark W.; Janko, Richard; Hainsworth, Bryan; Richardson, Nicholas James (2000) [1993]. "The Iliad as heroic poetry". In Kirk, Geoffrey Stephen; Edwards, Mark W.; Janko, Richard; Hainsworth, Bryan; Richardson, Nicholas James (eds.). The Iliad: A Commentary: Volume 3, Books 9-12 (reprint ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 40–41. ISBN 9780521281737. Retrieved 7 March 2023. [...] Heroic Ages have been so named by modern scholars, but what is described is a by-product, as it was in Greece, of the tendency of heroic poetry to congeal into cycles, often (but not always) around a signal event. Perceived as a supreme effort of the greatest heroes, the event ensures that later generations cannot be equal to their predecessors and thus imposes a definite lower boundary to 'heroic time'.
3. Jensen, Finn Gredal (2010). "Homer: Kierkegaard's Use of the Homeric Poems". In Stewart, Jon Bartley; Nun, Katalin (eds.). Kierkegaard and the Greek World. Kierkegaard Research: Sources, Reception and Resources. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 273. ISBN 9780754669821. Retrieved 7 March 2023. The Homeric poems and their ideals rest on the idea of a heroic age. [...] Martial virtues are prominent, especially in the Iliad, and what is central in the heroic view is the concept of honor, reputation won by individual and noble achievements.
4. Hiltebeitel, Alf (1 January 2017) [1976]. "Traditional Epics". The Ritual of Battle: Krsna in the Mahabharata. SUNY series in Hinduism. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 53. ISBN 9788120840348. Retrieved 7 March 2023. The idea found in Ker, the Chadwicks, Bowra, and others, that a 'heroic age' is an essentially 'magnificent and aristocratic' feudal stage through which a society may pass (and then recall), is seriously tested by certain features of such ages in different societies.
5. Chadwick, Hector Munro (1912). "Government in the Heroic Age". The Heroic Age. Cambridge: University Press. p. 392. ISBN 9780742641891. Retrieved 7 March 2023. [...] it is not until the days of Philip II, king of the Macedonians, that we find any single man holding an authority over the Greek world such as the poems attribute to Agamemnon.
6. Sidhanta, N.K. (2013). "Government in the Heroic Age". The Heroic Age of India. History of civilization. Routledge. p. 188. ISBN 9781136200939. Retrieved 7 March 2023. But this general idea of giving the king's daughter in marriage to the prince most skilful in arms [...] may have started with a political aim, for such a prince would always be a powerful ally of the father-in-law, especially so in the Heroic Age when personal valour counted for so much.