What is an epic?

Epic is a long "compound" story song that is spread and preserved in oral form. Different from traditional story songs, epics are long in length, gorgeous in language, magnificent in scene, beautiful in style, numerous in characters and complicated in plot. The plots of folk stories and story songs often develop in the same line, while epics often tell several, dozens or even dozens of stories that happened to a hero. If story songs correspond to folk stories and legends, then historical poems should correspond to myths.