Iliad By Homer
The essay of Iliad, Homer finds a great tool in the simile. Just by opening the book in a random place the reader is undoubtedly faced with one, or within a few pages. Homer seems to use everyday activities, at least for the audience, his fellow Greeks, in these similes nearly exclusively. From the heroic effortsin the Iliad itself it is clear that the populace of his timewere highly emotional creatures, and higher brain activity seems to be in short, and in Odysseus' case, valuable, order. In the Iliad, there seems to be relatively little storyline from the Trojan's side. We are regaled with story uponstory of the Greeks, their heroes, and their exploits, while the Trojan's are ...
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time, only great things were heard about the Greeks mettle in war, and that Homer is attempting to balance the scales a bit by romanticizing the Trojan peoples, especially Hector, and bringing to light the lesser-heard tales of Greek stupidity. Shortly into Book Two, Agamemnon gives the speech to his assembly about his plan to rally the troops with reverse psychology. Agamemnon shall announce he is giving up on takingTroy, whereupon the individual army captains will then "prevent their doing so." When the announcement is made, King Agamemnonis startled to see the ranks, not surprisingly, take advantage ofthe chance to leave and make for the ships with vigor. Homer describes the scene as "bees that sally from some hollow cave and flit in countless throng among the spring flowers, bunched in knots and clusters..." This simile is tainted with dark wordslike "from a hollow cave" and "bunched in knots", giving the "bees" an ominous tone. A short, but emotionally appealing, simile is ...
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This is another example of how the Greeks are made to look like animals. In Book Ten Nestor comments on a set of horses that Odysseusis ushering, won by Diomedes through killing some Trojans, that they are "like sunbeams." A very short, and odd, description for horses. One is reminded of Apollo and his kinship with his chariot, often referred to as racing across the heavens. Shortly after Agamemnon dons his armor. On this armor fit for a king were "serpents of Cyanus" that appeared "like therainbows which were set in heaven." Quite an interesting description of something that is supposed to in still fear in ones enemy. The snake, as a notoriously evil incarnation, resembling a rainbow ...
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Iliad By Homer. (2006, January 17). Retrieved April 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Iliad-By-Homer/39777
"Iliad By Homer." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 17 Jan. 2006. Web. 23 Apr. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Iliad-By-Homer/39777>
"Iliad By Homer." Essayworld.com. January 17, 2006. Accessed April 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Iliad-By-Homer/39777.
"Iliad By Homer." Essayworld.com. January 17, 2006. Accessed April 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Iliad-By-Homer/39777.
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