In many cases broad epic compilations or published collections have been accorded the same significance as epics. Epics still exist in the oral traditions of the world. Nonetheless, the Kalevala could hardly have come into being without the influence of older, pre-existing epics. A necessary prerequisite for the birth of the Kalevala was the then prevailing notion that the Homeric epics were assembled from separate epic poems. There are many ways to produce epics.
Epics are an important demonstration of a culture's literary vitality.
Some national epics have received their written form due to the work of just one person. The Kalevala is such an epic. The Kalevala has also been an example for other epics around the world. Between 1857 and 1861 Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald published the Kalevipoeg epic on the basis of Estonian folk tales. In 1855, imitating the metre and style of the Kalevala, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote The Song of Hiawatha based on Native American Indian legends.