The Body of Elaine on its Way to King Arthur's Palace
By Gustave Dora
Una and the Red Cross Knight
From the painting by George Frederick Watts
The Heralds Summon Lucifer's Host to a Council at Pandemonium
By Gustave Dore
The Dead Sigfried Rome Back to Worms
From the painting by Th. Pixis
St. John the Evangelist at Patmos Writing the Apocalypse
From the painting by Correggio
Sita Soothing Rama to Sleep
From a Calcutta print
The Monk Breaks into the Robbers' House to Rescue White Aster
From a Japanese print
"It is in this vast, dim region of myth and legend the sources of the literature of modern times are hidden; and it is only by returning to them, by constant remembrance that they drain a vast region of vital human experience, that the origin and early direction of that literature can be recalled."—Hamilton Wright Mabie.
FOREWORD
Derived from the Greek epos, a saying or oracle, the term "epic" is generally given to some form of heroic narrative wherein tragedy, comedy, lyric, dirge, and idyl are skilfully blended to form an immortal work.