 The poem has been considered as an epic or a type of epic (for example, an anti-epic or mock-epic); a "Kollektivgedicht" that pulls together a series of examples in miniature form, such as the epyllion; a sampling of one genre after another; or simply a narrative that refuses categorization.The poem is generally considered to meet the criteria for an epic; it is considerably long, relating over 250 narratives across fifteen books; it is composed in dactylic hexameter, the meter of both the ancient "Iliad" and "Odyssey", and the more contemporary epic "Aeneid"; and it treats the high literary subject of myth.However, the poem "handles the themes and employs the tone of virtually
every species of literature", ranging from epic and elegy to tragedy and pastoral.