An epic poem refers to a lengthy narrative poem, which narrates a story which took place beyond living memory and told the extraordinary accomplishments of the extraordinary men and women who dealt with the gods or other superhuman forcec.
Most written epic poems have their roots in an oral tradition since ancestors used to narrate the extraordinary doings of men and women orally in order to entertain the masses verbally. These poems were transmitted through word of mouth until someone written them down as literature. Two of the earliest instances of an oral tradition that turnt into an epic poem are Homer's "Iliad" and "Odyssey."
