The Odyssey Metaphors and Similes Quotes

First by far to see her was Prince Telemachus,
sitting among the suitors, heart obsessed with grief.
He could almost see his magnificent father, here…
in the mind’s eye – if only he might drop from the clouds
and drive these suitors all in a rout throughout the halls
and regain his pride of place and rule his own domains!

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 1, lines 132-137. We are introduced to Odysseus’ son Telemachus for the first time. We are told by way of a heart metaphor that he is full of grief for his absent father. He is the first to notice Athena, who appears in the form of Mentes. We get foreshadowing in this passage of what will happen when Odysseus routs the suitors.

"All the nobles who rule the islands round about,
Dulichion, and Same, and wooded Zacynthus too,
and all who lord it in rocky Ithaca as well –
down to the last man they court my mother,
they lay waste my house! And mother…
she neither rejects a marriage she despises
nor can she bear to bring the courting to an end –
while they continue to bleed my household white.
Soon – you wait – they’ll grind me down as well."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 1, lines 285-293. Greed is an important theme in Homer’s epic poem. There is no better illustration of it than the way Penelope’s suitors behave by helping themselves to what they can lay hands on in Odysseus’ home. Telemachus in this speech uses a blood metaphor – "bleed my household white" – to describe their greed.

When young Dawn with her rose-red fingers shone once more
the true son of Odysseus sprang from bed and dressed,
over his shoulder he slung his well-honed sword,
fastened rawhide sandals under his smooth feet
and stepped from his bedroom, handsome as a god.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 2, lines 1-5.The opening lines of Book 2 features personification, with dawn described as rising like a person. There is a simile comparing the son of Odysseus to the gods, as we are treated to a newly invigorated and more confident Telemachus.

"Hear me, men of Ithaca! Hear what I have to say,
though my revelations strike the suitors first of all –
a great disaster is rolling like a breaker toward their heads.
Clearly Odysseus won’t be far from loved ones any longer –
now, right now, he’s somewhere near, I tell you,
breeding bloody death for all these suitors here."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 2, lines 180-185. The prophet Halitherses, who can read bird signs, sounds this warning when Zeus sends down a sign with two fighting eagles tearing each other’s throats and cheeks. He predicts that Odysseus who is close by will bring bloody death to the suitors. In a simile he compares the great disaster approaching them to a heavy sea wave rolling towards their heads. The suitors’ violent end is foreshadowed here.

"Here’s my prophecy, bound to come to pass.
If you, you old codger, wise as the ages,
talk him round, incite the boy to riot,
he’ll be the first to suffer, let me tell you."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 2, lines 210-213. Suitor Eurymachus warns Halitherses not to incite Telemachus, after the prophet predicts the return of a vengeful Odysseus. Eurymachus comes up with a prophecy of his own, that the young prince will be the first to be hurt. Using a simile, he mockingly refers to the old prophet as being as "wise as the ages."

"Strangers have just arrived, your majesty, Menelaus.
Two men, but they look like kin of mighty Zeus himself.
Tell me, should we unhitch their team for them
or send them to someone free to host them well?"

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 4, lines 31-34. Eteoneus, aide-in-arms of Menelaus, announces the arrival of Telemachus and "Nestor’s shining son" Pisistratus to the king’s palace at Lacedaemon. In a simile, the visitors are said to look like relatives of father of the gods Zeus himself. Eteoneus doesn’t show the usual Greek generosity to those who have traveled far from home, suggesting that they be sent off to someone else.

"Hear me, dear ones! Zeus has given me torment –
me above all the others born and bred in my day.
My lionhearted husband, lost, long years ago,
who excelled the Argives all in every strength –
that great man whose fame resounds through Hellas
right to the depths of Argos!
But now my son,
my darling boy – the whirlwinds have ripped him
out of the halls without a trace! I never heard
he’d gone – not even from you, you hard, heartless…
not one of you even thought to rouse me from my bed,
though well you knew when he boarded that black ship.
Oh if only I had learned he was planning such a journey,
he would have stayed, by god, keen as he was to sail –
or left me dead right here within our palace."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 4, lines 814-827. A distraught Penelope has learned that her son Telemachus has secretly set sail to Pylos and Sparta, while the suitors plan to kill him on his way home. She rails at Eurycleia for hiding her son’s departure from her. She makes clear that had she known, she would only have let Telemachus leave over her dead body. Angered by the deception, Penelope calls Eurycleia hard and heartless. Penelope speaks of her torment of first losing her husband and now her son, blaming Zeus for this. She recalls how Odysseus was honored with fame as a great warrior. In a metaphor she compares his bravery to that of a lion.

Her mind in torment, wheeling
like some lion at bay, dreading gangs of hunters
closing their cunning ring around him for the finish.
Harried so she was, when a deep kind sleep overcame her.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 4, lines 888-891. Penelope is worried about the safety of her son Telemachus, wondering if he will escape death or die at the hands of the plotting suitors. An extended simile emphasizes her feeling of helplessness, compares her to a trapped lion and the suitors to a gang of hunters hounding her.

The powerful giant-killer,
swooping down from Pieria, down the high clear air,
plunged to the sea and skimmed the waves like a tern
that down the deadly gulfs of the barren salt swells
glides and dives for fish,
dipping its beating wings in bursts of spray –
so Hermes skimmed the crests on endless crests.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 5, lines 53-59. As Hermes flies to Calypso’s island, he is compared to a seabird skimming the sea in search of fish. This is one of Homer’s many glorious epic similes to be found throughout The Odyssey and the Iliad. Hermes earned the nickname the giant-killer because he lulled the hundred-eyed giant Argos to sleep with his music and slew him with his sword.

"Outrageous! Look how the gods have changed their minds
about Odysseus – while I was off with my Ethiopians.
Just look at him there, nearing Phaeacia’s shores
where he’s fated to escape his noose of pain
that’s held him until now."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 5, lines 317-319. An angry Poseidon hates Odysseus for blinding his son and wants to continue punishing him. He is outraged that the other gods have allowed the Greek hero leave Calypso’s island and escape his fate there. When it comes to the administration of divine justice, the gods are not always at one. A metaphor in this passage compares Odysseus’ entrapment on Calypso’s island to a noose tied around his neck.

Pell-mell the rollers tossed her along down-current,
wild as the North Wind tossing thistle along the fields
at high harvest – dry stalks clutching each other tightly –
so the galewinds tumbled her down the sea, this way, that way,
now the South Wind flinging her over to North to sport with,
now the East Wind giving her up to West to harry on and on.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 5, lines 360-365. As Odysseus’ raft is tossed and blown about a stormy sea by winds and waves, an epic simile compares it to thistles being blown around the fields at harvest time.

She pitied Odysseus, tossed, tormented so –
she broke from the waves like a shearwater on the wing,
lit on the wreck and asked him kindly, "Ah poor man,
why is the god of earthquakes so dead set against you?
Strewing your way with such a crop of troubles!
But he can’t destroy you, not for all his anger.
Just do as I say. You seem no fool to me.
Strip off those clothes and leave your craft
for the winds to hurl, and swim for it now, you must,
strike out with your arms for landfall there,
Phaeacian land where destined safety waits.
Here, take this scarf,
tie it around your waist – it is immortal.
Nothing to fear now, neither pain nor death."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 5, lines 370-383. Poseidon may have condemned Odysseus to an additional ten years suffering at sea, but his fate has attracted the attention of the other gods who want to help him. Ino, as sea deity Leucothea, makes a dramatic appearance to save Odysseus from drowning in a violent sea whipped up by Poseidon. In a bird simile she is compared to a "shearwater on the wing." She tells Odysseus to abandon his raft and take her immortal scarf.

Poseidon god of the earthquake launched a colossal wave,
terrible, murderous, arching over him, pounding down on him,
hard as a windstorm blasting piles of dry parched chaff,
scattering flying husks – so the long planks of his boat
were scattered far and wide.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 5, lines 403-407. A huge wave launched by powerful god Poseidon beats down on Odysseus’ raft and shatters it, scattering the long planks. An extended simile makes a comparison to a windstorm blowing dry chaff in all directions.

Joy…warm as the joy that children feel
when they see their father’s life dawn again,
one who’s lain on a sickbed racked with torment,
wasting away, slowly, under some angry power’s onslaught –
then what joy when the gods deliver him from his pains!
So warm, Odysseus’ joy when he saw that shore, those trees.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 5, lines 436-441. After his boat is wrecked and he is adrift on a heavy sea for two nights and days, Odysseus is overjoyed to see the shores of Phaeacia. An epic simile compares his delight to the joy of children when the gods deliver their father from serious illness.

Long-enduring great Odysseus, overjoyed at the sight,
bedded down in the midst and heaped the leaves around him.
As a man will bury his glowing brand in black ashes,
off on a lonely farmstead, no neighbors near,
to keep a spark alive – no need to kindle fire
from somewhere else – so great Odysseus buried
himself in leaves and Athena showered sleep
upon his eyes.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 5, lines 538-545. Odysseus prepares a bed by covering himself with leaves on Scheria, the island home of the Phaeacians. A Homeric simile compares this to a farmer burying an ember in ashes to keep it warm, so that he can kindle a fire later.

White-armed Nausicaa led their singing, dancing beat…
as lithe as Artemis with her arrows striding down
from a high peak – Taygetus’ towering ridge or Erymanthus –
thrilled to race with the wild boar or bounding deer,
and nymphs of the hills race with her,
daughters of Zeus whose shield is storm and thunder,
ranging the hills in sport, and Leto’s heart exults
as head and shoulders over the rest her daughter rises,
unmistakable – she outshines them all, though all are lovely.
So Nausicaa shone among her maids, a virgin, still unwed.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 6, lines 112-121. As Nausicaa leads her handmaids in dancing and singing by the sea, the Phaeacian princess is momentarily glorified as a goddess. A Homeric simile compares her to the powerful goddess Artemis racing with her attending nymphs. So Nausicaa is said to outshine all her maidens.

And out he stalked
as a mountain lion exultant in his power
strides through wind and rain and his eyes blaze
and he charges sheep or oxen or chases wild deer
but his hunger drives him on to go for flocks,
even to raid the best-defended homestead.
So Odysseus moved out…
about to mingle with all those lovely girls,
naked now as he was, for the need drove him on,
a terrible sight, all crusted, caked with brine –
they scattered in panic down the jutting beaches.
Only Alcinous’ daughter held fast.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 6, lines 142-153. When Odysseus emerges naked from the bushes after his sea ordeal, he is hungry and in need of food. He looks terrifying to the Phaeacian princess Nausicaa and her handmaids as he approaches them. While Nausicaa stands her ground, her attendants run off down the beach in panic. In an extended simile, Odysseus is compared to a powerful mountain lion driven by hunger to approach a homestead and attack its flocks of animals.

"Here I am at your mercy, princess –
are you a goddess or a mortal? If one of the gods
who rule the skies up there, you’re Artemis to the life,
the daughter of mighty Zeus – I see her now – just look
at your build, your bearing, your lithe flowing grace…
But if you’re one of the mortals living here on earth,
three times blest are your father, your queenly mother,
three times over your brothers too. How often their hearts
must warm with joy to see you striding into the dances –
such a bloom of beauty. True, but he is the one
more blest than all other men alive, that man
who sways you with gifts and leads you home, his bride!"

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 6, lines 163-174. The shipwrecked Odysseus flatters Nausicaa in a bid to gain her assistance, even comparing her to the goddess Artemis. He compliments her beauty and compares it in a metaphor to a blooming flower.

Zeus’s daughter Athena made him taller to all eyes,
his build more massive now, and down from his brow
she ran his curls like thick hyacinth clusters
full of blooms. As a master craftsman washes
gold over beaten silver – a man the god of fire
and Queen Athena trained in every fine technique –
and finishes off his latest effort, handsome work,
so she lavished splendor over his head and shoulders now.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 6, lines 256-260. Athena gives the shipwrecked Odysseus a complete makeover to make him more desirable to Princess Nausicaa after he finds him washed onto the shore. The goddess transforms his appearance, so that he becomes taller and more beautiful and has a "massive" build. A Homeric simile likens what she does to a master smith pouring gold over silver to make something beautiful even more splendid.

"They gaze on her as a god,
saluting her warmly on her walks through town.
She lacks nothing in good sense and judgment –
she can dissolve quarrels, even among men,
whoever wins her sympathies.
If only our queen will take you to her heart,
then there’s hope that you will see your loved ones,
reach your high-roofed house, your native land at last."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 7, lines 82-89. Athena gives Odysseus some important advice about Arete, queen of the Phaeacians. Arete has the loyalty of all the people, she reveals, as she uses a simile to compare her to a god. If Odysseus can win the queen to his side, then he has hopes of reaching his homeland and family, she tells him.

A radiance strong as the moon or rising sun came flooding
through the high-roofed halls of generous King Alcinous.
Walls plated in bronze, crowned with a circling frieze
glazed as blue as lapis, ran to left and right
from outer gates to the deepest court recess,
and solid golden doors enclosed the palace.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 7, lines 98-103. Homer describes the opulence and riches at the splendid palace of King Alcinous. A simile compares the radiance flooding through the halls to that of the moon or rising sun.

"There in the future he must suffer all that Fate
and the overbearing Spinners spun out on his life line
the very day his mother gave him birth."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 7, lines 232-234. Alcinous, speaking about Odysseus, says that what happens in a person’s life is pre-determined and cannot be changed. In a metaphor, he compares the Fates to weavers and Odysseus’ life to a thread that they finished spinning the day he was born. The Greek Fates, or Moirai, were three ancient weaving goddesses who spun out the thread of life for mortals at their birth.

"The belly’s a shameless dog, there’s nothing worse.
Always insisting, pressing, it never lets us forget –
destroyed as I am, my heart racked with sadness,
sick with anguish, still it keeps demanding,
‘Eat, drink!’ It blots out all the memory
of my pain, commanding, ‘Fill me up!’"

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 7, lines 251-256. After telling King Alcinous that he is not a god and just a mortal man, Odysseus is hungry and anxious to finish dinner. In an extended metaphor he compares the stomach to a dog that keeps demanding its fill of food and drink.
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