Homeric Similes
A figure of speech compares one thing to something else that is unlike it except for a few important features. For example, Homer uses the phrase “like squirming puppies” to describe two of Odysseus’s men seized by the Cyclops. The simile helps the audience—then and now—picture how helpless the men are.
Homer used extended similes so masterfully that such comparisons now bear his name. A Homeric (or epic) simile is an elaborate comparison, developed over several lines between something strange or unfamiliar to the audience and something more familiar to them. For example, Homer compares the Cyclops eating the men to a “mountain lion devouring its prey, bones and all.”
Identifying Homeric Similes
Using the chart below, identify the two things, one familiar and one unfamiliar, that Homer compares in the extended simile. Think about author’s purpose—how does Homer help the reader visualize what he is describing?
Homeric Simile / Comparison AnalysisMountain lions and wolves were roaming round…but they wouldn’t attack my men; they just came pawing up around them, fawning, swishing their long tails—eager as hounds that fawn around their master, coming home from a feast, who always brings scraps to calm them down. (Homer 237) / Unfamiliar: The behavior of humans having been changed into wolves and lions.
Familiar: Dogs wag their tails and rush around when their human approaches them with food
Unfamiliar:
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Homeric Similes
Your turn: With your collaborative group, create four Homeric similes of your own. Each simile must be a long (at least 25 lines) comparison between something that’s familiar and something’s that not familiar. Use the chart below.
Your Homeric Simile / Comparison AnalysisFrom the attic came an unearthly howl… the whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you’re on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at7:00 p.m.instead of 7:30. / Unfamiliar: I’ve never heard an unearthly howl coming from the attic, but I would imagine it would completely creep me out.
Familiar: When we are in PCB, and the time difference makes all of our shows come on at a different time, it gives me a weird feeling—like something is off.
Unfamiliar:
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