Rank the epics that you've read thread

1. Gilgamesh
2. Comedy by Dante
3. Aeneid by Virgil
4. Odyssey by Homer
5. Iliad by Homer

Ovid's Metamorphosis is next on my to read list, followed by Paradise Lost. How do you rate the works of epic poetry that you've read?

Harry Potter was pretty epic that was like 7 books, and they were big.

Aeneid
Iliad
Odyssey
Beowulf
Nibelungenlied
Gilgamesh
Theogony
Works and Days
Chanson de Roland
Prose Edda
Poetic Edda
Metamorphoses

Ok, well at least put those in order of preference.

I also like Virgil more than Homer, even if only slightly. I'm curious why you do too.

He puts together the adventures of Homer, the characters of the Tragedians, and his own ability to describe plants and scenery, so he's taught all that use the Latin alphabet how to write narratives, and he does so in poetry.

Venus revealing herself to her son in Aeneid book I, 402-405. And then there's book VI.

These are some basic ass epics you

I agree with all that. Although I will say the passage that describes Calypso's Island in the Odyssey is as good a description of scenery and vegetation as any that Virgil gives. One of the main reasons I prefer Virgil is that he really outshines Homer when it comes to writing human psychology. You probably feel the same, considering your comment about the tragedians.

most epics worth reading are literally the basis of literature as we know it now. how tf would an epic be anything but basic? what, in your mind, is the "next-level" of epics after these "entry-level" epics?

(though i have been enjoying "the epic of the forgotten" by ivan vazov)

What would a good word be for someone who insists on calling canonical works of great literature "basic"?