Similes in the Iliad

A simile is a comparison between two things that uses “like” or “as”. These similes helped paint a picture for the audience and gave them comparisons to make as they listened. They helped the audience to imagine what is happening. These similes used fewer words than it would take to explain all about the characters and therefore helped the rapshods to save time. Homer used things such as animals and weather conditions so the audience can relate to them easier. When reading the Iliad, I read some of the similes aloud and I felt a stronger picture than just from the p

Throughout the Iliad, Homer used similes to develop the story and make it more interesting to the audience. From reading the Iliad, I noticed that most of his similes involve animals and just by associating a character with an animal, many words to describe the character come into the reader’s head, without being written on the paper.

One of the places where I noticed the most similes appearing was in the opening of Book 3. This book begins with both armies getting closer to each other and the first 35 lines of Book 3 feature a few long similes describing the armies and a couple of important characters. Homer begins the book with “the Trojans came on with clamour and shouting, like wildfowl” (Book 3 Line 2). This compares the Trojan army with wildfowl and the reader can picture them shouting and wildly on the move. Homer even continues to write about how the Trojan army’s shouts compare to the “clamour of cranes goes high to the heavens” (Book 3 Line 3). By this simile the reader gets a sense in the different attitudes of the opposing armies. The Greek army is more laid back and silent and the Trojan army is shouting and driving forward.

As the two armies get closer so do Paris and Menelaos. Menelaos is Agamemnon’s brother and the Trojan War was started to get his wife Helen back from Paris. Homer uses a simile to describe Menelaos when he writes, “he was glad, like a lion who comes on a mighty carcass, in his hunger chancing upon the body of a horned stag” (Book 3 Lines 23-24). In this simile Homer is comparing Menelaos to a lion. Menelaos is leading the army and he is happy to get his hands on Paris. It is a vivid picture of a lion eating the carcass of a stag or goat even though strong men are after it. The lion is hungry and happy in this situation and so is Menelaos, as he is thirsty for revenge on Paris. Through this simile, Menelaos is given the characteristics of a lion. He may not be the best fighter but in this situation h

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