By tracing the development of the epic, oral and written, as in Chapter III, the qualities that are characteristic of the epic and the devices associated with the epic through continued usage were found to be the constant factors upon which the definition of the epic is formulated. The application to Hiawatha of the epic definition in terms of form, theme, subject matter, characters, tone, the use of the supernatural, and the use of characteristic devices, strengthens the thesis that Longfellow has written an epic.