Exaggeration and Grandeur in Epic Poetry

 The epic is a narrative of heroes. The hero of the epic poem should be a man of an immaculate and pure character endowed with noble and great feelings, supernatural characters, and supernatural forces comprising of gods, demons, angels, fairies, space travel, cheating death, etc. can also be introduced in epic poetry and has been employed with dexterity by the classical epic poets. Besides being overly formal and highly stylized, lyricism and exaggeration are important parts of an epic. The poet uses hyperbole to reveal the prowess of a hero. He doesn’t think twice about using exaggeration to make an impression on the audience. Edward Spencer was a celebrant of English nationality, empire, and royalty. On one level, The Faerie Queene is a tribute to his patron queen and the Earl of Leicester, as well as a celebration of England's brave knights and faithful citizens. At times, the poet appears to be a mere flatterer. According to The Faerie Qveene,

“And with them eke, O Goddesse heauenly bright,
Mirrour of grace and Maiestie divine,
Great Lady of the greatest Isle, whose light
Like Phoebus Lampe throughout the world doth shine,”

Spencer compares Qveene Elizabeth to mythical goddesses, seeing her as the embodiment of all perfection and a paragon of all virtues. He refers to her as Gloriana or the Empress of all. Nobleness. Belephoebe, or the princess of all sweetness and beauty; Marcella, or the lady of all compassion and grace; Britomart, or the armed votary of all purity; Cynthia, the poet; and Tranquil in the learning of a goddess named Queene, who was heavenly bright, or a mirror of grace and majesty and majesty. In these lines from Spencer's Faerie Queene, Spencer shows a eulogy to Queen Elizabeth.

“So pure and innocent, as that same lambe,

She was in life and euery virtuous lore,

And by descent from Royall linage came

Of ancient Kings and Queenes, that had yore”

As Spencer stated in his letter to Sir Walter Raleigh, The Faerie Qveene was supposed to be a "courtesy book." He intended to teach his learned reader and the people the virtues of a perfect gentleman through the delightful romantic story and its moral, religious, and politico-historical allegories. He said, "The general end (purpose) of the entire book is to fashion a gentleman in the virtuous discipline." He planned to write twelve books, each of which would be an adventure of a knight representing one moral virtue, which he would prove by fighting against the evils in the course of the adventure. The first book narrates the romance and adventure of the British knight, who represents "holiness" on a moral level.

“Vpon a great adventure he was bond,

That greatest Gloriana to him gaue,

That greatest Glorious Queene of Faerie Land,

To winne him worship, and her grace to haue,
Which of all earthly things he most did craue;”

He could complete only six books narrating the adventure of six knights representing
1) Holiness 2) Temperance 3) Chastity; 4) Friendship 5) Justice; and 6) Courtesy.
All twelve knights were supposed to represent the twelve qualities of a noble gentleman, whose perfect example was the Earl of Leicester. The fairy qveene sends knights on different adventures as opportunities to prove their gentlemanliness and knightly qualities. The melodious verse, combined with Spencer’s sensuous imagery and deliberate use of archaic language evocative of the medieval past, serves not only to relieve the high moral seriousness of his theme but to create a complex panorama of great splendor.
Spencer’s lush and expansive imagination and vigorous approach to a structure made him a powerful influence on John Milton and the romantic poets, including John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley.
Milton’s attitude toward Satan
Writers and critics of the Romantic era advanced the notion that Satan was a Promethean hero, pitting himself against an unjust God. Most of these writers based their ideas on the picture of Satan in the first book of Paradise Lost. In these books, Satan rises off the lake of fire and delivers his heroic speech, still challenging God.

Satan also calls for and leads the Grand Council. Finally, he goes on his own to cross Chaos and find Earth. Without question, this picture of Satan makes him heroic in his initial introduction to the poem from his point of view. Milton, by beginning in media's res, gives Satan the first scene in the poem, a fact that makes Satan the first empathetic.
Character. Also, Milton’s writing in these books and his characterization of Satan make the archfiend understandable and unforgettable.
These facts certainly make Satan the most interesting character in the poem. The reader is unaware of the exaggerations and outright lies that are parts of Satan’s magnificent speeches. The reader can easily overlook the fact that Milton states that whatever powers and abilities the fallen angels have in hell, those powers and abilities come from God, who could at any moment take them away.
Then, Milton’s grand poetic style sets Satan up as heroic in Book 1. The presentation of Satan makes him seem greater than he actually is and initially draws the reader to his point of view.
Further, because all the other characters in the poem—Adam, Eve, God, the Son, and the Angels—are essentially types rather than characters, Milton spends more artistic energy on the development of Satan's character so that throughout the poem, Satan’s character maintains the reader’s interest and perhaps even sympathy, at least to some extent. No matter how brilliantly Milton created the character of Satan, the chief demon cannot be the hero of the poem. For Milton, Satan is the enemy who commits an act that goes against the basic laws of God and challenges the very nature of the universe. Satan is reminiscent of Shakespeare's Macbeth. Both characters are magnificent creations of evil. Both are heroic after a fashion, but both are doomed. Both are fatalistic about the afterlife, and finally, both create a kind of hell: Macbeth’s on Earth and Satan’s in the universe.
In the tradition of epic poetry, Pope opens the poem "The Rape of the Lock (Canto 1)" by invoking a muse, but rather than invoke one of the mythic Greek muses, Pope leaves the
Muse remains anonymous and instead dedicates the poem to John Caryll, the man who commissioned the poem. The irony of pairing epic characteristics with lowly human characters contributes to Pope’s mock-heroic style.
Belinda’s dream provides the mythic structure of the poem. In this segment, the Pope introduces the supernatural forces that affect the action of the poem, much the same way that the gods and goddesses of the Iliad would influence the progress of the Trojan War. He shows we limit womanly priorities to personal pleasures. As humans, these women valued their "beautiful mold" and enjoyed frivolous diversions, which they continue to take pleasure in as spirits. Whether the author views their work as art, and despite any principal intention they may have, the satire they present is often transformed by the reader because it is rich with ridicule and references.
Following years of patchy revival, Bonnie Latimer published an article titled "Alchemies of Satire: A History of the Sylphs" in "The Rape of the Lock" in 2006, demonstrating that the importance of satire had not vanished in modern view despite the publication of other major literary journals a few years apart. As major figures, such as John Caryll and Jonathan Swift, praised the satirical formation, it may be unnecessary to describe what they said of mock heroism.