Hunting & Animal Similes in Homer – Part 2: The Odyssey
The Homeric simile, also known as an epic
simile, is a literary device often used by Homer in the Iliad and the Odyssey.
A simile is an extended, elaborate poetic comparison, usually running for several
lines, that uses vivid imagery to link a character's actions or a narrative
event to something from nature or daily life that is familiar to the audience
or listener. The purpose of a simile is to enhance the reader's
understanding and appreciation of the narrative by linking the unknown or the
unusual to something well known or more commonplace. Homer
also uses the simile to glorify a character or to call attention to them, or to
heighten the intensity or importance of an event. A simile provides a way for
the narrator to talk directly to the audience and to pause for a moment to
build understanding while the action is taking place. According to Ian Johnston
of Vancouver Island University, “What distinguishes the Homeric simile from an
ordinary simile is its length, its detail, and often the energy of its impact,
for the length and syntax of the trope (especially the longer versions) enable
the lines to gather considerable momentum.”
Homer
uses very familiar comparisons in his similes, often drawing from natural
events like storms or other weather phenomena, earthquakes, raging wildfires,
or the actions of wild beasts or domestic herds. In this second paper of two,
we will concentrate our attention on Homer’s use of hunting and animal similes in
the Odyssey. The Odyssey is a very different story than the Iliad because most
of its action takes place on the waves of the deep or on shorelines bordering
the wine-dark sea. As a result, the animal and hunting similes in the Iliad are
much more numerous than those in the Odyssey and Homer’s use of this literary
device in the second epic tends to rely more on comparisons of characters and
events with sea, fishing or weather-related images, rather than those dealing solely
with animals and hunting. By some counts, there are a total of 288 similes and
139 non-simile comparisons in the Iliad, as opposed to only 128 similes in the
Odyssey. It makes one wonder why there is such a big difference in writing
styles between the two epics. Perhaps this is one more argument in favour of
the different authorship argument. Having said that, there are still more than
a dozen animal-related similes in the Odyssey that bear looking at to get a
better glimpse into Homer’s artistry.
Like
in the Iliad, lions feature prominently in Homer’s animal similes in the
Odyssey. My computer’s AI generator prompted this response when I asked it why
Homer uses lions in his similes. Homer uses lions in his similes because they are powerful symbols of strength, ferocity and regality, making them
effective comparisons for heroic warriors. The lion's prowess in battle, its ability to conquer other animals, and
its imposing presence made it a natural choice for Homer to illustrate the
courage and power of his heroes. While lions
weren't as common in Greece as they were in other regions, their image was still
well-known and understood by Homer's audience. This allowed for a clear and impactful comparison.
Menelaus predicted to Telemachus
that his father would act like a lion when he returned to Ithaca and discovered
the suitors in his home.
“O for shame,
for feeble men are willing to lie down in the bed of a stout-hearted man. Just
like when in the wooded lair of a mighty lion a deer has laid her new-born
suckling fawns down to sleep and she then wanders over the mountain hills and
grassy valleys looking for pasture land, and then the lion comes back to his
lair and lets loose a cruel fate on the two fawns, so will Odysseus let loose a
cruel doom upon these men.”
It is interesting to note that Homer used a lion simile
to describe Penelope as well. By doing so, he placed her on a level plain with
Odysseus and presented her to his listeners as equal in strength and heroism to
her husband.
But the wise
Penelope stayed in her upper chamber, took no food and fasted from eating and
drinking, wondering all the while whether her peerless son would escape death
or be done in by the insolent suitors. Even as a lion is afraid and worried
when among a throng of people who draw a trap around him, so too did she worry
when finally sweet sleep came upon her.
Homer returned to his image of
Odysseus as a lion when he described him emerging naked from the bushes at his
meeting with Princess Nausicaa in the land of the Phaeacians.
He came out
trusting in his strength, like a mountain-raised lion assailed by wind and
rain. Like the lion with its eyes blazing that goes into the midst of the
cattle or the sheep or on the track of the wild deer and its stomach urges it
on to go into the sheepfold to make an attack on the flocks. Even so was
Odysseus destined to mingle with the fair-tressed maidens, naked though he was
for great need had come upon him.
The lion symbolism was completed
when, late in the story, Penelope came upon the lion Odysseus having made his
kill and bespattered with the blood of his victims. This is a powerful image of
a powerful conquering hero and the lion is the perfect comparison.
There she found Odysseus surrounded by the corpses of the slain all
fouled with blood and filth, just like a lion that comes from devouring an oxen
on the farm with his breast and his cheeks all stained with blood on both sides
and he is a devil to behold, so Odysseus was befouled with blood on his feet
and his hands above.
Dogs are also featured prominently
in the animal similes of the Odyssey, because by using dogs, Homer is able to
draw comparisons for his listeners that they can easily relate to. Most ancient
Greeks were familiar with dogs and understood their reactions and their
behaviours, both in their roles as family pets or in hunting situations. Using
dogs in similes helped to make the story more accessible and relatable and
connected to the everyday lives of the members of the audience.
One of the strangest similes in the
Odyssey involves dogs, wolves and lions. Odysseus and his men came to the land
of Circe the sorceress. Now this was a weird place indeed, ruled over by a
creature who had the power to turn men into swine and whose palace was
surrounded by fierce-looking wolves and lions. But in this strange place, the
wolves and lions did not act in a normal way. Instead they behaved like fawning
dogs rather than wild beasts. Homer used this comparison to highlight the strangeness
of the place and to position it as one of the more unlikely places for Odysseus
and his men to tarry for a year.
Surrounding it
were mountain wolves and lions, all of them subdued by spells for she had given
them evil potions. They did not attack my men, but wagged their long tails and
fawned around them. Just like when dogs nuzzle around the top dog when he comes
from a feast, because he brings them tidbits to sooth their natures, so all the
wolves with sharp claws and the lions fawned around my men, but they were
fearful when they saw the dreaded monsters.
Homer used another dog simile when
he described how Odysseus felt when he thought about the serving girls who were
in league with the arrogant suitors. His listeners would have instantly
identified with the sentiments expressed, no doubt having witnessed the same
thing with any dog at home who had birthed puppies.
Then the women came out of the great hall, those who were having sex
with the suitors, laughing with one another and making merry. But the heart was
aroused in his breast and he was anxious in his heart and mind about whether he
should rush after each of them and inflict death upon them or to allow them to
lie down with the arrogant suitors for the final and last time and his heart
growled with him. Just like when a mother dog stands over her weak puppies and
growls when she sees a man she does not recognize and is ready to fight, in the
same way his heart growled within him at his anger at their evil works and he
struck his breast and rebuked his heart.
Homer’s audience were people of the
land and so any simile that had anything to do with domestic animals would have
struck them as highly relatable. There are several similes in the Odyssey that
compare the behaviour of cattle or oxen with human actions. When Odysseus
returned safely from the house of Circe, Homer tells us that his crew members
gamboled about like frisky calves, happy to see him.
Just like when
calves on a farm frisk about the herds of cows returning to the farmyard, when
they have had their fill of grazing, and all together they rush around in front
of them, and the pens cannot contain them, but with constant lowing they run to
their mothers, in the same way those men, when they saw me, thronged around me
weeping, and it seemed in their hearts that they had returned to their homeland
and to the city of rugged Ithaca, where they were born and raised.
Odysseus
and his small band of cohorts attacked the suitors in the palace of Ithaca.
Homer wanted to emphasize the sheer terror experienced by the suitors and used
a very interesting double simile to do so, first by comparing the fleeing
victims to a herd of cattle being pursued by gadflies and then by describing a
flock of vultures chasing small birds.
They fled
through the great hall like a herd of cattle that the darting gadflies land on
and drive forth in the springtime, when the days start to get longer. And just
like vultures with crooked talons and curved beaks come flying from the
mountains and chase smaller birds across the plains flying below the clouds and
they spring upon them and destroy them and these birds have no way of fighting
or fleeing and men are gladdened by the hunt, so too did the others set upon
the suitors and strike them from the left and the right throughout the great
hall.
Homer used
only one horse simile in the Odyssey, this time comparing the action of a ship
at sea to the charging of four stallions. Once again it would have been an
image familiar to the audience. They may never have been on a ship at sea, but
they most certainly would have seen horses running on land.
Just like on a
plain when four stallions under the yoke leap forward under the lash of the
whip and rush along in terror and leaping on high they make their way along the
roadway, even so did the stern of the ship leap on high and in its wake the
dark coloured wave of the roaring sea heaved and swirled.
Most of the
other similes that Homer presents in the Odyssey feature images of waves,
storms, ships, fishing or seabirds, as one might expect from a story that is
primarily sea-based. There are a number of other comparisons that highlight
various emotions, again as expected since the story is centered on emotions
like love, filial and marital devotion, longing for home and revenge. But what
is most notable in our discussions about similes in the Iliad and the Odyssey,
is the huge difference in the number of times Homer uses the literary device in
the two epics. This difference helps to point out the fundamental differences
between the two works. The Iliad is the story of intense action-packed events,
battle scenes, bloody warfare and heroic warriors. The intensity and the drama
associated with such topics can easily be enhanced by the use of similes that
compare actions and events with natural forces and natural phenomena. The
Odyssey, on the other hand, is a more personal story and one that is
character-driven with a focus on the emotions displayed by the central
character and the dangers that he faces on his journey home. These elements of
the story cannot as easily be enhanced by the use of similes and therefore
Homer used the literary device less frequently in the second epic. Or the
Odyssey could have been written by a different person, but that is another subject
for discussion.
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