The Importance and Influence of Epic Similes

LIT 2800

Paper Assignment 1

Hongchen Liu

The Importance and Influence of Epic Similes

A simile not only can give great impression but also can place the audience into the situations using materials from natural phenomena and objects or familiar activities and engagements. As reading the Iliad, one could easily find out a large amount of this spectacular describing method that Homer is great at throughout the whole poem. It is true that, as in the first epic poem in human history, the great number of the particular Homeric similes contribute to the sublime style of an epic. In a way, similes, especially Homeric similes, are the most important components of this epic.

Many similes could expressively describe a scene with common phenomena that people could possibly imagine. This implementation of simile in epic poem can easily make the epic more vivid than just monotonously explaining the scene. Starting from line 162, Hector just encounters Achilles at the gate of Troy. Then the chase begins,

"As the wild mountain hawk, the quickest thing on wings,

Launching smoothly, swooping down on a cringing dove

And the dove flits out from under, the hawk screaming

Over the quarry, plunging over and over, his fury

Driving him down to beak and tear his kill...."

What we see here is the Hector's extreme fear toward Achilles and the wrath from Achilles. To describe this, Homer implements his Homeric simile which uses a situation to compare another. Here, Achilles is compared to a wild mountain hawk. His magnificent speed, which we can derive from his famous title "the great runner," is compared to the speed of the Hawk, "the quickest thing on wings." His action during the chase can not be compared to the action of the wild mountain hawk; after all they are not the same object that can perform same action. Hector, however, is compared to "a cringing dove." This simile can precisely aptly show the breathtaking and thrilling atmosphere of the chase between Achilles and Hector. Nevertheless, Homer does a great job using the savage and cruelty of a wild mountain hawk to show Achilles' fury and momentum.

There is another feature of Homeric similes manifested in the above selection. Throughout the whole poem, it is easy to notice that Homer like to draw materials from natural phenomena and objects or familiar activities. In the above selection, Homer portrays Achilles and Hector with a wild mountain hawk and a cringing dove. Indeed, they do have some similarities between themselves; the swiftness and cruelty of both wild mountain hawk and Achilles; and the timidity of both cringing dove and Hector. However, they do remain huge disparities between them. Achilles, as the poem reveals, is a complicated person, so is Hector; it is not fair for them to be represented completely and solely by these natural creatures. But, here, Homer's impulse of using these creatures to represent these two men is to exaggerate the very moment of the chasing scene. As an approach of exaggeration, Homer ignores other characteristics of either these two men or these two creatures, instead, he willing and purposely leads the audience to concentrate the particular characteristics of them that has been shown during the chase. In this spectacular way, Homer successfully