LA9
name ___________________
Homeric Similes
Most good writers use figurative language like similes. Homer, the author of The Odyssey, is such an original and
influential writer that a particular kind of simile is named for him—the homeric simile. Like a regular simile, a
Homeric simile makes an unexpected comparison using a comparison word like “like” or “as”. Homeric similes are
unique because of what they compare and (usually) the detail of the comparison.
Homeric similes almost always describe a heroic or epic event—something that is so extraordinary that it is unlikely
that the reader would ever experience anything like it. These events have to be compared to something more familiar so
that the reader has a chance of understanding what they are like. Usually, the comparison is to something from nature
or everyday life that the reader would easily recognize. Of course, since we are reading The Odyssey 3000 years later,
sometimes we don’t understand the “everyday life” part of the comparison either, because our lives are no longer like
that!
EXAMPLE:
“[The army] came with dawn over that terrain like the leaves and blades in spring.” (p. 896 line 70)


what is being compared: the Ciconian army AND blades of grass popping up in spring
how they are alike: Blades of glass grow so quickly in the spring that they seem to appear
out of nowhere, just like the Cicones appear very suddenly and unexpectedly to Odysseus’
men.
Your job:
Read these Homeric similes from The Odyssey and identify what is being compared. It helps to look back in
you book and read the context of the comparison. You may also need to look up words you don’t know
(check you footnotes first).
1. [The Cyclops], behind, reset the stone as one would cap a quiver.
 What is being compared:
_____________________________ and ______________________________

How they are alike:
2. In a smithy, when one sees a white-hot axhead or an adze plunged and wrung ina cold tub,
screeching steam—the way they make soft iron hale and hard—just so that eyeball hissed around the
spike
 What is being compared:
_____________________________ and ______________________________

How they are alike:
3. I leaned on [the spike] turning it as a shipwright turns a drill in planking
 What is being compared:
_____________________________ and ______________________________

How they are alike:
More
Try it out:
Make up three Homeric similes of you own, in which you compare something strange or unfamiliar with
something ordinary and familiar. You might consider comparing something like the following:
 The surface of the moon or another planet
 Something you see through a microscope
 The feeling of doing a double back handspring or diving off a high dive
 A space launch
Example: The rocket rose like a magnificant eagle trailing a tail of fire and smoke.
(compares something few people have seen, a rocket, with something everyone has seen, an eagle)