Themes In The Story Of Gilgamesh

1098 Words5 Pages
Many poets write poems to express themselves or convey a message. This is because writing things down has been a way of tracking or relaying information to others or oneself at a later time. The themes of these poems change not only with whom the poet is but, what they are writing about. Undoubtedly poetry such as Epics, Romances, and Ballads are used to express themes due to each type having a plethora of ways to convey the author’s message. Epic is narratively long poems that tell about a heroic feat or event that are important to the poet’s culture(Fogie). This leads to influencing other cultures which can influence other poets, which is why you can see allusions to many different epics in poetry. Epic poems were common in ancient times because they were ideal for expressing stories orally(Fogie). To this day epics are discussed and taught in schools and are still held to a high standard this shows the influence of these Epics. The story of Gilgamesh written by Sin-Leqi-Unninni was one of the first recorded epics in history. It tells the story of an arrogant king who displeased the gods and has to go through many trials and tribulations to redeem himself and become a wiser and more experienced king (Fogie). Epics brought many people together in union and gave young generation heroes to look up to in their own culture like Gilgamesh, The Iliad, and the Odyssey. The theme of Gilgamesh and many other epics are of heroism, camaraderie, and adventure. These themes allow