epics
•place a lot of the focus on character development and how the character grows throughout the poem
•a main storyline is a single character fighting for the survival of a large nation or society of people
•the protagonist always has heroic reason to fight (to protect his people,to gain honor, riches, etc)
•an epic usually ends in tragedy
romance
•the main focus of the poem is not on the character but rather on the Adventure itself
•the protagonist in a romance is more static, usually concerned only of a single group, family, or class (ex:a knight of the round table)
•the reader is concerned with how the protagonist will face certain trial
•fight for the sake of personal reason (love,god,chivalry)
•romances tend to have happy ending and everything tends to fall into place at last moment