there's the literal translation (noun = a literary epic, adj = heroic, majestic, impressively great), then there's what the internet has turned it into, where the most inconsequential, uninteresting and unimportant things can be labeled epic (a plate of reheated spaghetti becomes #epicnomz, a new Kelly Clarkson becomes #epicjamz).
put those aside and tell me what you see as epic. an event? a structure? a song or movie? name whatever has impressed you so greatly that you think it deserves the label "epic". and if you think it's epic, you ought to he able to explain exactly why.
my picks:
Stephen King's The Dark Tower series: this is more of a literal epic, being a narrative told over seven novels and entailing the exploits of Roland and his companions doing no less than saving an infinity of universes from destruction. pretty epic.
Carl Orf's O Fortuna: even if you don't recognize the name, you surely have heard this song. it's been badly used by advertisers over and over again for television commercials selling things that don't deserve it as a backdrop. youtube "O Fortuna" and chances are you'll recognize it immediately. when i listen to the intro, it immediately gets my juices flowing with grand open chords sung by a choir. the slow buildup to the finale piles on pounds of thick tension, and the finale itself explodes with energy. i don't know what the choir is singing about, but the urgency with which they sing, as though some cataclysmic event were bearing down on the world, is, to me, epic.
so. what's epic to you?
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