Few poets in Western literature have achieved distinction in the epic genre.  The tradition is broad enough to include works as dissimilar as Lucan's Pharsalia, Ovid’s Metamorphoses and Henri Du Bartas’ Semaine. But when we think of epic poetry really only a handful of names come to mind: Homer, Virgil, Dante and Milton. Beyond these, it's hard to identify or agree upon major successes. Conventionally, the “heroic mode” requires a large theme, and requires that it be treated with the kind of grandeur, beauty and dignity that Homer set as a standard at the beginning. Homer's art, though sometimes considered naive next to Virgil's, is supreme among the epic poets for its spontaneity, vigor and pure inventive power.