One of my favorite similes in The Iliad is in the beginning of Book Three when the armies are closing in on each other. Paris challenges the Achaeans to send their best warrior to fight him one-on-one. When Menelaus saw him “flaunting before the troops” (III: 25) he “thrilled like a lion lighting on some handsome carcass, lucky to find an antlered stag or wild goat just as hunger strikes--he rips it, bolts it down, even with running dogs and lusty hunters rushing him” (III: 25-29). This is an allusion to animal-like behavior, which shows up quite often in the poem. It is a vivid description; the reader can imagine it taking place as well as some of the literal descriptions of the battles throughout the story, yet it is metaphorical. The idea is that Menelaus is like a beast being so stirred up by the sight of a weaker animal that will serve as food when he is hungry that he rips it apart even though there are distractions all around. This is a good image because it helps to further characterize Menelaus; it effectively reminds the reader that he is so focused on revenge toward...
He uses imagery in phrases such as “slash to attack” to convey how aggressive he wants his troops to be when fighting the Greeks. The quote also uses diction where Hector says “never run” and “grim assault” to convey that no matter what the Greeks do he won’t back down. Later on in The Iliad, Hector does not display this level of courage. Book 22 starts with Hector disregarding his parent’s pleas for him to stay within the walls of Troy. Hector seems ready to fight Achilles until they are face to face and Hector is scared. In the book it states, “Hector looked up, saw him, started to tremble, Nerve gone, he could hold his ground no longer he left the gates behind and away he fled in fear and Achilles went for him fast sure of his speed as the Wild Mountain Hawk...swooping down on a cringing dove(22.162-167).” Homer uses imagery and a simile in this section to convey Hector’s lack of bravery in comparison to Achilles fearlessness. Homer uses phrases such as “started to tremble” and “away he fled
There are many lessons that can be learned from reading Homer's The Iliad. One of which is understanding the stages of grief. One can literally watch Achilles go through all five stages when he morns the death of his comrade Patroclus. Achilles moves through Denial and Isolation, Depression, Anger, Bargaining and Acceptance in the short time after his close friends death.
Homers first book was called the Iliad. This dynamic story tells of the struggles that happened in the Trojan War. Although it is fictional, this literary work gives us an insight of how the Greeks thought the world worked. Reading the first five books, there come an understanding of war and how the gobs played a leading role in all of it. This book glorified the Trojan War and follows a Greek warrior named Achilles.
In the short story “Chickamauga,” by Ambrose Bierce, there are several examples of imagery throughout the passages that help to describe the horrors of war. Bierce sets the story with a young boy playing war in a forest, who is then approached by a “formidable enemy,” a rabbit. The sudden appearance startles the boy into fleeing, calling for his mother in “inarticulate cries,” and his skin getting “cruelly torn by brambles.” The selection of these details leaves a lucid image in the mind of the reader, allowing them to see a sobbing boy running through the forest, covered in cuts and scratches. It represents the innocence and fear of a child, lost and alone in an unknown place. The birds above his head “sang merrily” as the boy was “overcome
Throughout the Iliad, Homer portraits the extent to which honor plays a role in the lives of Greeks and the manner in which they are willing to sacrifice in order to reach their goals. The Iliad is set during the Trojan War, a particularly long and bloody war, fought not over boundary disagreements, and not over political conflicts, and not to protect the nation. Rather, it was a war fought to defend the personal honor. The possession of women was important to a man’s standing and honor. Paris’ theft of Helen struck a huge blow to the honor of Menelaus and becomes the initial cause of the Trojan War. Consequently, Menelaus, the Spartan ruler, called upon his brother Agamemnon to gather the Greek forces to launch the war against Paris demanding the return of Helen and reinstating the honor for the king. The war lasted for ten years and cost innumerable Greeks’ lives and brought incurable pain upon their families. To Greek heroes, honor is more important than their life as much as that life would be meaningless without it, and they even willingly sacrifice their lives in order...
Achilles anger was a predominant theme in the Iliad. It led to Patrokolos, death, Hektor’s death and a great many other Trojan deaths. Achilles was a very powerful Greek warrior, he had many faults but one of his most prominent was his uncontrollable anger. Multiple times throughout the Iliad his anger had for reaching effects on the war and people around him. These effects were not usually favorable to anyone. There are three main occurrences that led Achilles’ anger down devastating paths. The first was when Agamemnon took Achilles’ girlfriend. When this happened, Achilles felt robbed because Brisies, his girlfriend, represented his might and the glory of his conquests. In the Greek culture, glory and honor were highly esteemed. This is why
"The Iliad is a poem that celebrates the heroic values war imposes on its votaries (27)." Homer himself describes war as "bringing glory to man." War is a huge part of both the Achaeans and the Trojans' lives. Characters gain glory through their performances and bravery in battle. Furthermore, Homer persuades the reader that war is the glorious way to settle a dispute. For example, Hector and other Trojans scorn Paris for backing down from Menelaus. On the other hand, Achilles acquires glory by deferring the option of a long, peaceful life in order to fight and become an epic hero. The characters in The Iliad value honor and glory to such a degree that they are willing to give up life itself in order to possess it.
Simone Weil’s essay “The Iliad: or Poem of Force” places importance on human interaction, the grounding, empathic, human relations which are rare, fleeting, and necessary. She claims Force to be a governing factor in all human interaction, and the ‘thingness’, which force prescribes to humans, as a dangerous, uncontrollable factor of human existence. In order to overcome force, one must direct all their attention towards recognizing others suffering. In her other essay, “Attention and Will,” Weil discusses religious attention as the most important. She claims that one must practice a passive attention to God in order to reach a divinity beyond reality itself which holds truth.
“Then the screaming and shouts of triumph rose up together, of men killing and men killed, and the ground ran blood.” From first examination the Iliad seems to be an epic founded on an idealized form of glory, the kind that young boys think about when they want to join the army. A place full of heroism and manliness where glory can be achieved with a few strokes of a sword and then you go home and everything is just lovely. Many people view the Iliad this way, based on it’s many vivid battle descriptions and apparent lack of remorse for the deaths that occur. This, however, is not how war is presented in the Iliad. Homer presents a very practical outlook on war countering the attainment of the glory with the reality of its price and the destruction it causes. He successfully does this by showing the value of the lives of each person that dies and, in a sense, mourning their passing, describing the terror and ugliness of war, and, through the characters of Achilleus and Hector, displaying the high price of glory.
The Iliad by Homer is an epic poem separated in different books or chapters that shows a fictionalized account of the Trojan War. Book 6: Hector Returns to Troy is the specific portion of the poem that is being covered in this essay. Hector from the Iliad shows a very clear aspect of his personality, a strong sense of loyalty and tenderness for his loved ones and also his people by being on the front lines during the war and showing his people he is willing to fight with them and essentially sacrificing himself for his family. Hector even knows his forgiveness towards his brother, Paris even though Paris is the main reason the Trojan War is in existence.
Though the Iliad made mention of extreme bravery; it also covers the opposite end of the scale: cowardliness. Paris, depicted at first as woman crazed, sex obsessed, and egotistic (he never leaves these descriptions), was also viewed as a coward as early as Book III. Paris, who fought bravely towards the end of the war, is a misunderstood Trojan who just wanted to have fun.
The Iliad, by Homer, tells a part of the tale of the conquest of Troy by the Greeks. In the Greek army there are many prominent figures. These important Greeks have distinct personalities. This paper hopes to demonstrate that certain famous Greeks each get some form of comeuppance based on their respective bad character traits and actions. In essence, this paper will show that justice is served against the Greeks for their actions.
The 'Iliad'; by Homer is a book that deals with many emotional issues. I am going to talk about a few emotional parts of the Iliad and compare them to the emotional life of today. I have chosen a section of the book and will talk about the emotions that come up there. The section that I have chosen to talk about is in book 18 when Achilles is very angry and very sad about Patroclus death. After that he wants revenge by killing hector.
Homer's Iliad is commonly understood as an epic about the Trojan War, but its meaning goes deeper than that. The Iliad is not only a story of the evolution of Achilleus' persona, but at times it is an anti-war epic as well. The final book proposes many questions to the reader. Why not end with the killing of Hektor? Most stories of war conclude with the triumphant victory of good over evil, but in the Iliad, the final thoughts are inclined to the mourning of the defeated Hektor, which accentuates the fact that good has not triumphed over evil, but simply Achilleus triumphed over Hektor. Ending with the mourning of Hektor also brings to center stage for the first time the human side of war and the harsh aftermath of it. We see that war not only brings great glory, but also much suffering and anguish. Homer puts his anti-war views on display.
Divine Intervention is a “direct and obvious intervention by a god or goddess in the affairs of humans”. In various myths such as the Iliad, the Epic of Gilgamesh, and Herakles, divine intervention was called upon in order to restrain a hero’s destructive or too powerful forces. Although the divine intervention was used to impair different heroes, the purpose to constrain was the same in all the narratives.