Growing Up in Epic: Transformations of the Doloneia

Abstract

Iterations of the epic topos of the night raid (Doloneia) deriving from book 10 of the Iliad intersect with the motif of puberty in significant ways. For an Elizabethan author interested in the formation of sexual identity, this intersection triggers a range of literary transformations and modes of literary self-consciousness that can inform any given reference to sexual awakening. Erotic desire as a theme is not an intrinsic aspect of the epic topos but a variation introduced to it by Virgil in order to differentiate the emotional bonds of personal loyalty from the claims of duty the individual owes a collective entity. Subsequent epic poets Ariosto, Tasso, and Spenser shape a tradition as each reworks elements of the Virgilian paradigm to explore the formation of gender and social identity in relation to structures of political power and cultural heritage.