Homeric Similes and epithets
1. An Epithet is an adjective or phrase used to characterize a character or place. Homer used countless epithets as
formulas to “characterize” or describe the characters in The Odyssey. Examples: “clear-headed Telemachus”, “faithful
Penelope”, “Odysseus, the noble and enduring man”, “pale Persephone”, etc. Using “Odysseus’ Revenge” on pg 1039,
find 5 epithets and write each and its line reference on your paper.
1.
“Now shrugging off his rags the _____________________________ of the Islands leapt and stood on the broad
door sill, his own bow in his hand.”
Line _____
2. “He drew to his fist the _________________________ of an arrow for Antinous just as the young man leaned to lift
his beautiful drinking cup, embossed, two-handled, golden: the cup was in his fingers…”
Line _____
2. Write your own: For the following characters, think up an epithet to describe each and in a sentence explain
why you chose the adjective you did. Do not repeat an adjective. Then, think of three epithets for yourself. For
example:
Loyal Odysseus: Odysseus is loyal to his men despite their repeated disobedience at the island of the Cicones,
the island of the lotus-eaters, with the bag of winds from Aeolus, etc.
1. Odysseus:
3. Telemachus:
5. Eumaeus:
2. Penelope:
4. Polyphemus:
6. Antinous:
3. A Homeric simile is a comparison by Homer of two things using “like” or “as.” Homer compares typical, everyday things
of primitive life to great feats and adventures in the epic. In each of the following excerpts from The Odyssey, underline
what two things are being compared once. Then, circle “like” or “as,” which signals the comparison is a simile. Lastly,
underline the rest of the simile twice, which gives an elaborate description of the two people/things being compared.
1. But the man skilled in all ways of contending,
satisfied by the great bow’s look and heft,
like a musician, like a harper, when
with quiet hand upon his instrument
he draws between his thumb and forefinger
a sweet new string upon a peg; so effortlessly
Odysseus in on emotion strung the bow.
Odysseus is being compared to a _______________.
The comparison suggests that, like the musician, Odysseus…
2. Think of a catch that fishermen haul in to a half-moon bay
In a fine-meshed net from the whitecaps of the sea:
How all are poured out on the sand, in throes for the salt sea,
Twitching their cold lives away in Helios’ fiery air:
So lay the suitors heaped on one another.
Odysseus and his treatment of the suitors is being compared to:
a. a fisherman and a huge catch
c. the waves hitting the sand
b. Helios and his cattle
d. a fishing net and the sand
How does this simile describe the suitors?