The Homeric
Simile
The Homeric Simile
A Homeric simile is an elaborate comparison, developed over
several lines, between something strange or unfamiliar to the
audience and something more familiar to them.
The Homeric Simile
– the simile is one of the hallmarks of
Homer’s style
– a simile is an explicit comparison of two
unlike things, using “like” or “as”
– They are like two peas in a pod.
– This is an example of the type of
simile you already know.
The Homeric Simiile
Fallen on one side, as on the stalk
a poppy falls, weighed down by showering spring,
beneath his helmet’s weight his head sank down.
Iliad 8.306-8 (the death of Gorgythion)
What do you notice about this simile example?
The Homeric Simile
Fallen on one side, as on the stalk
a poppy falls, weighed down by showering spring,
beneath his helmet’s weight his head sank down.
Iliad 8.306-8 (the death of Gorgythion)
– Two things are being compared here:
1. A dying soldier
2. …and what??
The Homeric Simile
Fallen on one side, as on the stalk
a poppy falls, weighed down by showering spring,
beneath his helmet’s weight his head sank down.
Iliad 8.306-8 (the death of Gorgythion)
– the flower and the dying hero bend over in a
like manner
– both have colorful tops: one has a flower
and the other a crested helmet
The Homeric Simile
Fallen on one side, as on the stalk
a poppy falls, weighed down by showering spring,
beneath his helmet’s weight his head sank down.
Iliad 8.306-8 (the death of Gorgythion)
– but the flower and the hero are more different
than alike:
– man vs. plant
– dying in battle vs. growing in the rain
– noisy dirty battlefield vs. serene rainfall
Identify the two things, one familiar and one unfamiliar, that Homer
compares in each extended simile.
“I drove my weight on it from above
and bored it home like a shipwright
bores his beam with a shipwright's
drill that men below, whipping the
strap back and forth, whirl and the
drill keeps twisting, never stopping -So we seized our stake with its fiery
tip and bored it round and round in
the giant's eye.”
Identify the two things, one familiar and one unfamiliar, that Homer
compares in each extended simile.
Odysseus is comparing how he stabs the Cyclops
in the eye to…
“I drove my weight on it from above and bored it
home like a shipwright bores his beam with a
shipwright's drill that men below, whipping the strap
back and forth, whirl and the drill keeps twisting,
never stopping --So we seized our stake with it fiery
tip and bored it round and round in the giant's eye.”
The way a shipwright (a person who works on/builds boats)
drills a hole in a beam on his ship.
Identify the two things, one familiar and one unfamiliar, that
Homer compares in each extended simile.
“…its crackling roots blazed and hissed - as a
blacksmith plunges a glowing ax or adze in an icecold bath and the metal screeches steam and its
temper hardens - that's the iron's strength - so the
eye of Cyclops sizzled round that stake.”
Identify the two things, one familiar and one unfamiliar, that
Home compares in each extended simile.
Odysseus compares the sizzling sound of the
Cyclops' eye
“…its crackling roots blazed and hissed - as a blacksmith
plunges a glowing ax or adze in an ice-cold bath and the
metal screeches steam and its temper hardens - that's the
iron's strength - so the eye of Cyclops sizzled round that
stake.”
to that of sticking fire-hot metal in cold water.
NOW WRITE YOUR OWN!!!
(I know, WORK – your favorite thing ever).
– On page eight of your Odyssey Blue Book, create and
illustrate (you can use Google image search for images if
you like) THREE similes in the style of a Homeric Simile.
1. Start with “As” or “Like”
2. Describe the way the object or animal would look/act, set off
with commas
3. Say “so too,” then describe the way the person would look/act
in a similar way
Examples:
As a flag flaps in the breeze, clumsily twisting and flopping without
rhyme or reason, so too (name) attempted to dance the NaeNae,
making a total idiot of himself.
Like a bunch of dirty pigeons, scratching mindlessly in the dirt for
anything they can find, so too will English teachers try to peck out
the insides of students’ souls with their talk of
symbolism, study guides, and creative projects.
Choose a familiar object/person/thing/event and one unfamiliar
object/person/thing/event to compare it to.
Remember to make your comparisons long and detailed!
Use these pictures if you need some inspiration or Google image search
your own. YOU ARE WRITING and ILLUSTRATING THREE.