Epic Simile formative

Part 1: Analyze an epic simile. Context: After leaving Calypso’s island , Odysseus eventually arrives at the home of the Phaeacians; the ruler of this land in King Alcinous whose wife is Queen Arete and daughter is Princess Nausicaa. This is his last stop before returning home to Ithaca. After being washed up on shore, Odysseus spots Nausicaa and her maids washing clothes at the river. “Odysseus awoke and sat up . . . He pushed aside the bushes, breaking off with his great hand a single branch of olive, whose leaves might shield him in his nakedness; so came out rustling, like a mountain lion, rain-drenched, wind-buffeted, but in his might at ease, with burning eyes—who prowls among the herds of flocks, or after game, his hungry belly taking him near stout homesteads for his prey. Odysseus had this look, in his rough skin advancing on the girls with pretty braids; and he was driven on by hunger too.” Analysis: As Odysseus emerges from the bushes, Homer uses several details to create and extend an epic simile comparing him to a mountain lion. Details like “burning eyes” and “hungry belly” create a sense of danger about him, as does the use of the verb “prowl,” which makes him seem as if he is hunting for prey. In this moment, after surviving his latest trial, Odysseus seems wild and frightening, and this explains why the maids flee from him in terror.

Part 1: Analyze an epic simile. Don’t just explain what the epic simile is. Explain why the epic simile is. Look at it in the larger context of the story. What is its purpose? When analyzing imagery… Always give me more than this: “It creates imagery, which allows the reader to picture what is happening.” That is basically a definition for imagery and has nothing to do with the passage. What is the overall effect of the imagery and why is the author creating this effect?

Part 2: Write your own. Student example: The blind thing in his doubled fury broke a hilltop in his hands as if it was glass and heaved it after us. Ahead of our black prow, it struck, shattering into a spray of [dust], like explosive shards in the sky, breaking apart and sinking into the sea in a spuming geyser, a giant wave that washed the ship stern [almost] back to shore. The roar of the wave lashing against the ship was like a scream echoing again and again.