Similes In The Odyssey

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Rage: Sing, Goddess, the reader’s rage when they found out The Iliad and The Odyssey were not composed by the same bard. There is a significant lack of crossover themes and details to support the claim they were composed by the same person. One major difference in the poems come from how the titular character of The Odyssey, a Greek hero named Odysseus, has a completely altered persona concerning the two epics. After considering the dissimilarities in how one of the main characters is portrayed from one poem to the next another important detail to note is that of the structure of the stories are completely at odds with one another, whether it be by the uses of similes within, or by the invocation which begins the adventure there are very little parallels which can be drawn between the two poems to support the argument that Homer did in fact compose both with the help of others. One major aspect that differs between the two epics is the personality which Odysseus exhibits in each. In The Iliad, he is depicted as extremely war hungry and disrepectful to anyone who did not outrank him in the army. An example of this can be seen in “When they reached the…show more content…
In Il. 16.412-424 the simile is used to show the movement of troops at war and help give the audience an insight into the mind of a warrior. However, in opposition to that, in Od. 4.580-583 not only is the simile used to describing a single person rather than a group, but it also is in reference to a women to describe her as a strong lion never willing to give up the fight which was unheard of in ancient Greece unless in Sparta where it was not uncommon for the women to be as strong as men. The use of these two similes can be used to show different authorship due to them having such unlike content from one and other, and also because they are used in almost complete opposite

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