The Iliad Similes and Metaphors Quotes

Down the plain he stormed like a stream in spate,
a routing winter torrent sweeping away the dikes:
the tight, piled dikes can’t hold it back any longer,
banks shoring the blooming vineyards cannot curb its course –
a flash flood bursts as the rains from Zeus pour down their power,
acre on acre the well-dug work of farmers crumbling under it –
so under Tydides’ force the Trojan columns panicked now,
no standing their ground, massed, packed as they were.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 5, lines 96-104. Diomedes continues to rage through the battle attacking the panicked Trojans – just before he is wounded in the shoulder from an arrow shot by Pandarus. An epic simile describes the Greek warrior’s rampage like a river swollen by rains from the god Zeus causing a flash flood and bursting through dikes and farmers’ vineyards.

claw-mad as a lion
some shepherd tending woolly flocks in the field
has just grazed, a lion leaping into the fold,
but he hasn’t killed him, only spurred his strength
and helpless to beat him off the man scurries for shelter,
leaving his flocks panicked, lost as the ramping beast
mauls them thick-and-fast, piling corpse on corpse
and in one furious bound clears the fenced yard –
so raging Diomedes mauled the Trojans.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 5, lines 151-159. A dramatic epic simile describes Achaean hero Diomedes, having been wounded in the shoulder by the archer Pandarus, as like a raging lion mauling the Trojans.

Next Diomedes killed two sons of Dardan Priam
careering on in a single car, Echemrnon and Chromius,
As a lion charges cattle, calves and heifers
browsing the deep glades and snaps their necks,
so Tydides pitched them both from the chariot,
gave them a mauling – gave them little choice –
quickly stripped their gear and passed their team
to his men to lash back to the ships.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 5, lines 178-185. The battle rages between the Achaeans and the Trojans and the Greek leader Diomedes is right there in the thick of it, killing many Trojans, despite having been hit by an arrow. In this passage an epic simile compares him to a lion charging cattle and snapping their necks.

Remember the wind that scatters the dry chaff,
sweeping it over the sacred threshing floor,
the men winnowing hard and blond Demeter culling
grain from dry husk in the rough and gusting wind
and under it all the heaps of chaff are piling white…
so white the Achaeans turned beneath the dust storm now,
pelting across their faces, kicked up by horses’ hoofs
to the clear bronze sky – the battle joined again.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 5, lines 574-581. On the battlefield the Achaean troops are completely covered by a dust storm kicked up by their horses’s hoofs. An epic simile describes it as being like the dry chaff scattered by the wind when the grain is being seperated from the husks after harvest.

The troops themselves had no fear,
no dread of the Trojans’ power and breakneck charges,
no, they stood their ground like heavy thunderheads
stacked up on the towering mountaintops by Cronus’ son,
stock-still in a windless calm when the raging North Wind
and his gusty ripping friends that had screamed down
to rout dark clouds have fallen dead asleep. So staunch
they stood the Trojan onslaught, never shrinking once.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 5, lines 601-608. This epic simile tells us how the unshrinking Achaeans, spurred on to fight by their leaders, show no fear and hold their ground against the Trojans. They are likened to thunderheads stacked up on the mountaintops by the god of lightning Zeus.

But Sarpedon’s loyal comrades laid him down,
a man like a god beneath a fine spreading oak
sacred to Zeus whose shield is banked with clouds.
The veteran Pelagon, one of his closest aides,
pushed the shaft of ashwood out through his wound –
his spirit left him – a mist poured down his eyes…
but he caught his breath again. A gust of the North Wind
blowing round him carried back the life breath
he had gasped away in pain.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 5, lines 794-802. Zeus’s son Sarpedon has suffered a spear wound and is tended to by his comrades. The spear has lodged in his thigh and has to be extracted. The operation and the pain cause him to go unconscious, but he is revived by the North Wind. While he doesn’t die, the scene highlights the fine line between life and death that soldiers in the Trojan War walk – even the sons of gods. Sarpedon is described as being like a god in a simile.

There Diomedes aimed and stabbed, he gouged him down
his glistening flesh and wrenched the spear back out
the brazen god of war let loose a shriek, roaring,
thundering loud as nine, ten thousand combat soldiers
shriek with Ares’ fury when massive armies clash.
A shudder swept all ranks, Trojans and Argives both,
terror-struck by the shriek the god let loose,
Ares whose lust for slaughter never dies.
But now,
wild as a black cyclone twisting out of a cloudbank,
building up from the day’s heat, blasts and towers –
so brazen Ares looked to Tydeus’ son Diomedes.
Soaring up with the clouds to the broad sweeping sky.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 5, lines 990-1001. God of war Ares retreats to Mount Olympus from the battlefield after being wounded by Diomedes, who drives a spear into his belly. An epic simile describes his shriek as being like that of ten thousand soldiers in war. Another extended simile tells us that he ascended to Olympus like a dark cyclone twisting out of a cloudbank.

Like the generations of leaves, the lives of mortal men.
Now the wind scatters the old leaves across the earth,
now the living timber bursts with the new buds
and spring comes round again. And so with men:
as one generation comes to life, another dies away.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 6, lines 171-175. Glaucus, fighting on the side of the Trojans, says this to Greek warrior Diomedes on the bloodied battlefield, after Diomedes asks him: "Who are you, my fine friend? – another born to die?" In an epic simile the lives of humans are compared to the generations of leaves on the trees, which fall and are replaced by new leaves in the spring. In this passage the fallen leaves stand for fallen soldiers.

Look,
your people dying around the city, the steep walls,
dying in arms – and all for you, the battle cries
and the fighting flaring up around the citadel.
You’d be the first to lash out at another – anywhere –
you saw hanging back from this, this hateful war.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 6, lines 386-391. Hector scolds his brother Paris because he has been missing from the battlefield. Using metaphorical language he talks of fighting flaring all over the city as though it were a fire, and people dying everywhere. Yet Paris is nowhere to be seen, instead Hector finds him at home with Helen and her handmaidens.

As a stallion full-fed at the manger, stalled too long,
breaking free of his tether gallops down the plain,
out for his favorite plunge in a river’s cool currents,
thundering in his pride – his head flung back, his mane
streaming over his shoulders, sure and sleek in his glory.
knees racing him on to the fields and stallion-haunts he loves –
so down from Pergamus heights came Paris, son of Priam,
glittering in his armor like the sun astride the skies,
exultant, laughing aloud, his fast feet sped him on.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 6, lines 604-672. Paris, who has been scolded by his brother Hector for avoiding battle, now sets off for the battle lines. Here in this epic animal simile he is compared to a proud stallion, sure in his glory, breaking free of his tether and galloping on to the battlefield.

Both men bent on combat, on they fought like wind
when a god sends down some welcome blast to sailors
desperate for it, worked to death at the polished oars,
beating the heavy seas, their arms slack with the labor –
so welcome that brace of men appeared to the Trojans
desperate for their captains.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 7, lines 3-8. The Trojan troops welcome their leaders Hector and his brother Paris back to the fighting. An epic simile compares the soldiers’ relief to a welcome blast of wind sent to tired sailors, who have been laboring to death at their oars in heavy seas.

Wave on wave of them settling,
close ranks shuddering into a dense, bristling glitter
of shields and spears and helmets – quick as a ripple
the West Wind suddenly risen shudders down the sea
and the deep sea swell goes dark beneath its force –
so settling waves of Trojan ranks and Achaeans
rippled down the plain.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 7, lines 70-76. The Trojan and Achaean armies momentarily pause to listen to Hector address them. An extended simile likens them to waves on the sea, rippling and turning dark as the West Wind suddenly blows over them.

Ajax harnessed himself in burnished, gleaming bronze
and once he had strapped his legs and chest in armor,
out he marched like the giant god of battle wading
into the wars of men when Zeus drives them hard
to clash and soldier on with heart-devouring hate.
So giant Ajax marched, that bulwark of the Achaeans –
a grim smile curling below his dark shaggy brows,
under his legs’ power taking immense strides,
shaking his spear high, its long shadow trailing.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 7, lines 237-245. A fully armed Great Ajax moves out to face Hector in single combat. In an epic simile he is compared to a giant god of war, Ares, marching into a clash of warriors stirred up to fight by the god Zeus.

Hector far in the lead, bristling in all his force
like a hound that harries a wild boar or lion –
hot pursuit. snapping quick at his heels,
hindquarters and flanks but still on alert
for him to wheel and fight – so Hector harried
the long-haired Argives, killing the last stragglers,
man after lagging man and they, they fled in panic.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 8, lines 384-390. As the killing machine of Hector attacks and despatches the Achaeans, he is compared to a hound harrying a wild board or lion in this epic animal simile.

Like a mother bird hurrying morsels back
to her unfledged young – whatever she can catch –
but it’s all starvation wages for herself.
So for me.
Many a sleepless night I’ve bivouacked in harness,
day after bloody day I’ve hacked my passage through,
fighting other soldiers to win their wives as prizes.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 9, lines 392-397. Achilles is complaining that he has not received enough recognition for his efforts in the war against the Trojans. In an epic simile he compares himself to the mother bird rushing back with morsels to her young, but starving herself.

So by the ships the other lords of Achaea’s armies
slept all night long, overcome by gentle sleep…
But not the great field marshal Agamemnon –
the sweet embrace of sleep could not hold him:
his mind kept churning, seething. Like Zeus’s bolts
when the lord of bright-hatred Hera flashes lightning,
threatening to loose torrential rain or pelting hail
or snow when a blizzard drifts on fields – or driving on,
somewhere on earth, the giant jaws of rending war –
so thick-and-fast the groans came from Atrides,
wrenching his chest, heaving up from his heart
and rocked his very spirit to the core.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 10, lines 1-12. While the other Greek commanders sleep soundly that night, Agamemnon does not. He feels grim about the military situation and is concerned about the fate of the Achaean army after their rout by the Trojans earlier that day. An epic simile compares the turmoil in his heart to Zeus flashing lightning and threatens to let loose a massive storm.

Like sheepdogs keeping watch on flocks in folds,
a nervous, bristling watch when the dogs get wind
of a wild beast rampaging down through mountain timber,
crashing toward the pens, and the cries break as he charges,
a din of men and dogs, and their sleep is broken, gone –
and so the welcome sleep was routed from their eyes,
guardsmen keeping the long hard watch that night.
Always turning toward the plain, tense to catch
some sign of the Trojans launching an attack.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 10, lines 215-223. A description of how the nervous and unsleeping Achaeans remain on watch all night, for fear of a Trojan attack. An extended Homeric simile compares them to nervous sheepdogs guarding flocks and getting wind that a wild beast is rampaging through the pens.

they sprang in pursuit
as a pair of rip-tooth hounds
bred for the hunt and flushing fawn or hare
through a woody glen keep closing for the kill,
nonstop and the prey goes screaming on ahead –
so Odysseus raider of cities and Diomedes
cut him off from his own lines.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 10, lines 420-426. Trojan spy Dolon is chased and cut off from his own lines by Odysseus and Diomedes, who are also on a spying mission. The Achaean duo are compared to predatory hounds chasing a fawn or hare, in an epic simile.

As a lion springs on flocks unguarded, shepherd gone,
pouncing on goats or sheep and claw-mad for the kill,
so Tydeus’ son went tearing into that Thracian camp
until he’d butchered twelve.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 10, lines 561-564. The horrors and triumphs of battle are vividly described here, as Diomedes goes on a rampage through the Thracian part of the Trojan camp and kills the sleeping soldiers. He is likened to a lion pouncing on goats or sheep – many of Homer’s epic similes compare warriors to predators.

Hector bore his round shield in the forefront, blazing out
like the Dog Star through the clouds, all withering fire,
then plunging back in the cloud-rack massed and dark –
so Hector ranged on, now flaring along me front,
now shouting his orders back toward the rear,
all of him armed in bronze aflash like lightning
flung by Father Zeus with his battle-shield of thunder.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 11, lines 69-75. On the battlefield on the Trojan side, the troops mass around Hector. In a dramatic epic simile, the Trojan warrior is likened to a blazing star as if lit up by lightning from Zeus.

And the men like gangs of reapers slashing down
the reaping-rows and coming closer, closer across
the field of a warlord rich in wheat or barley –
swaths by the armfuls falling thick-and-fast –
so Achaeans and Trojans closed and slashed,
lunging into each other.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 11, lines 76-81. The bitter clash between the Trojan and Achaean armies is described here in an epic simile, which compares them to gangs of reapers slashing and slicing down the rows of corn in a warlord’s field.

Think how a lion, mauling the soft weak young
of a running deer, clamped in his massive jaws,
cracks their backbones with a snap – she’s stormed in,
invading the lair to tear their tender hearts out
and the mother doe, even if she’s dose by,
what can she do to save her fawns? She’s helpless –
terrible trembling racks her body too – and suddenly
off she bounds through the glades and the thick woods,
drenched in sweat, leaping clear of the big eat’s pounce.
So not a single Trojan could save those two from death,
they fled themselves before the Argive charge.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 11, lines 132-142. Comparing Agamemnon to a predatory lion mauling and tearing apart weak and young deer, this epic simile describes how the Achaean king brutally kills Isus and Antiphus, two of Trojan king Priam’s sons. The mother doe, like the Trojans, is unable to save her young deer from the lion. The Iliad is full of epic similes, especially ones like this involving predators and their prey.

Yet stragglers still stampeded down the plain
like cattle driven wild by a lion lunging
in pitch darkness down on the whole herd
but to one alone a sudden death comes flashing –
first he snaps its neck, clamped in his huge jaws,
then down in gulps he bolts its blood and guts.
So King Agamemnon coursed his quarry, always cutting
the straggler from the mass and they, they fled in terror,
squads amok, spilling out of their chariots facefirst
or slammed on their backs beneath Atrides’ hands –
storming and thrusting his spear and lunging on.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 11, lines 200-210. A rampaging Agamemnon continues to kill the fleeing Trojans. The Greek king is likened to a lion and the Trojans cattle in an epic simile which graphically describes him slaughtering his prey. As the lion is regarded as the king of the animals, this is an appropriate comparison.
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