The Illad
"The Iliad", an epic tale told by the famous Greek author Homer, is focused primarily on the Trojan War between the Greeks, or Argives, and the Trojans. This war was filled with bloody battles and a massive loss of life. Homer tells stories about a duration of time during this fighting, and not the entire war. He uses his story-telling abilities to focus the audience on the garish and sometimes mundane drudgery of war. Due to his removal from the actual time of these battles, his stories may be embellished or not completely accurate descriptions of what did or did not happen. Overall, however, the Iliad is believed to be mostly true. Homer was born, most likely, in the 8th Century B.C. He is widely believed to be the best and most popular of the Ionian poets. His birthplace is not known beyond a doubt. Some have even said that he may have been blind. This idea has its share of critics though, since Homer details specific landscape scenes all throughout his works, and most of his writing is focused on the vision of the scene in which he describes. Homer relies heavily on descriptions to get his points across to the audience. In Homer's time, stories were told orally. Therefore, as a good writer, he attempted
Along with similes and metaphors providing us with a better understanding of what is happening in the story, they also tell us about the world in which Homer lived in, which was Greece in the 8th Century B.C. Most of the clues as to ancient Greek life come as no surprise. It is not surprising to find that the Greeks recognized the Moon during this period: "... the massive shield flashing far and wide like a full round moon..." (p. 500, 422) Nor is it shocking to hear of lions in Greece at this time: "...like a great bearded lion the dogs and field hands drive back..." (p.446, 126-127) However, even though these similes sometimes may seem unimportant or even redundant, every situation they are used in is different. A lion may be just another lion, but no two conflicts that they describe are exactly alike. Homer uses this thought to convey the energy, and even at times beauty, of his fighting scenes. The similes and metaphors of The Iliad, in my opinion, are the real attention-grabbing parts of the story. Homer's descriptions using similes are mostly very detailed and often rather grotesque. The similes in his writing serve to make the audience imagine exactly what is happening in the story. For example: "They swarmed forth like wasps from a roadside nest..." (p.421, 305-308) Fire was also used by Homer to describe the intensity of The Iliad's battles. These were not used as much as the references to animals in the book, but fire did prove to be a major description of the fighting, as in this excerpt: "Achilles now like inhuman fire raging on through the mountain gorges splinter-dry, setting ablaze big stands of timber...storming on with brandished spear..." (p.519, 553-559). 1. Benton, Rebold, Janetta. DiYanna, Robert. Arts and Culture: An Introduction to the Humanities. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1998. (p. 87-92) In conclusion, many inferences can be made pertaining to the common, everyday life in ancient Greece through Homer's similes in The Iliad. They describe the landscape, animals, weather, societal roles, and occupations. Along with helping the audience to visualize the scenes in The Iliad, these similes also shed light onto the world in which Homer lived.
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Approximate Word count = 1557
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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