Table Of ContentThe Artistry of the Homeric Simile
William C. Scott
The Artistry
of the
Homeric Simile
Dartmouth College Library
& Dartmouth College Press
Hanover, New Hampshire
Published by
University Press of New England
Hanover and London
dartmouth college press
Published by University Press of New England,
One Court Street, Lebanon, NH 03766
www.upne.com
© 2009 by William C. Scott
Printed in U.S.A.
5 4 3 2 1
This work has been published simultaneously in print and in
electronic form. The author, William C. Scott, asserts his rights as
copyright holder for both print and electronic versions. The print
version of this book is available from UPNE, One Court Street,
Lebanon, NH 03766. The electronic version is available for download
by the public, free of charge, at the website of the Dartmouth College
Library: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~library/digital/publishing/
scott2009.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Scott, William C. (William Clyde), 1937–
The artistry of the Homeric simile / William C. Scott.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-1-58465-797-2 (pbk.: alk. paper)
1. Homer—Literary style. 2. Greek language—Figures
of speech. 3. Oral-formulaic analysis. 4. Oral tradition—
Greece. 5. Rhetoric, Ancient. 6. Simile. I. Title.
pa4177.s5s28 2009
883'.01—dc22 2009016159
contents
Preface · vii
chapter one
Similes, the Shield of Achilles, and Other Digressions · 1
The Usefulness of Book Divisions · 10
chapter two
The Simileme: The Background of the Homeric Simile · 14
The Oral Nature of Homeric Verse · 14
The Simileme · 18
Homer and His Audience · 31
Simile and Simileme · 37
chapter three
Homer’s Use of Similes to Delineate Character and Plot · 42
Iliad, Book 2: Ironic Characterization · 43
The Similes of Book 2 · 44
The Role of Similes in Book 2 · 59
Iliad, Books 21 and 22: Similes to Show a Thematic Contrast · 65
Iliad, Book 11: Similes to Mark a Shifting Scene · 78
Conclusion · 89
chapter four
Similes to Delineate a Narrative Theme · 94
Iliad, Book 12: Direct Focus on a Single Theme · 94
Iliad, Book 5: The Use of Parallel Similemes to Create a Unified Theme · 102
Odyssey, Book 22: Similes to Interpret Typical Actions · 112
Odyssey, Book 5: Thematic Similes · 118
Conclusion · 126
chapter five
Problem Books · 130
Iliad, Book 13: The Ordering of Conscious Chaos · 130
Iliad, Book 17: Similes as Guides through a Series of Type Scenes · 145
Iliad, Book 16: Similes for Complexity · 155
Conclusion · 171
chapter six
The Creative Poet and the Co-creating Audience · 174
The Simile within the Narrative · 174
The Poet’s Choices in Forming the Individual Simile · 181
The Creative Moment: Poet and Audience · 185
Charts of Similemes: The Basic Motifs · 189
Notes · 207
Bibliography · 247
Index · 257
preface
The similes in Homer are treasure troves. They describe scenes of Greek
life that are not presented in their simplest form anywhere else: landscapes
and seascapes; storms and calm weather; fighting among animals; aspects of
civic life such as disputes, athletic contests, horse races, community enter-
tainment, women carrying on their daily lives, and men running their farms
and orchards. But the similes also show Homer dealing with his tradition.
They are basic paratactic additions to the narrative showing how the Greeks
found and developed parallels between two scenes, each of which elucidated
and interpreted the other, and then expressed those scenes in effective poetic
language.
My earlier book, The Oral Nature of the Homeric Simile, identified series of
repeated simile topics and common locations in the narrative with the goal of
revealing the oral basis for the content of many of the similes as well as their
placement. The current book, directed at the aesthetic qualities that Homer
sought in forming each simile, represents that work’s other side. The first
study focused more on the traditional alternatives that occurred to Homer as
he composed; this second study explores the variations and modifications to
each of the topics that Homer employs in order to make similes blend expres-
sively with the larger context. The focus moves from compositional modes
to aesthetic choices—from the poetic background to the act of creation by
the poet and the act of reception by his audience. The major question for the
second study is: how does the artist translate his thoughts into his chosen lan-
guage? He does so through the indispensable participation of a co- creating
audience. Thus the two books are meant to be a unified study of Homer’s
similes as compositions derived from and dependent on an oral tradition.
The second study is rooted in the mixture of traditional materials pres-
ent to the poet every time he considers adding a simile to his narrative. No
name has been assigned to this conglomerate of topics and scenes, of previ-
ously successful placements of similes, of multiple choices available to the
poet, of the alternate narrative techniques that poet and audience bring to the
moment, and of the highly developed traditional language that was the birth-
right of every Greek. Poet and audience together used their understanding of
vii
the means of expression and their memory of tales from the past as mutually
helpful partners in creating Homer’s old-style “new” poetry.
The similes are not presented sequentially or in their order of appearance
in the narrative; rather, they are grouped by books and then analyzed as they
fit broad functional categories. The first chapter shows how Homer has used
expository digressions widely and effectively in telling his stories and how the
similes can be approached as parallel narrative devices. The second chapter
will analyze the poet’s and audience’s inheritance from previous performances
of epic in order to determine the choices available to Homer in shaping his
similes to support the narrative. The next three chapters examine those books
in the Iliad and the Odyssey that contain the largest numbers of similes—in
other words, the books where Homer seems to have chosen to give the simi-
les major significance in his design. Finally, the conclusion attempts to imag-
ine how a poet could have juggled all the elements that went into the series
of choices that produced the individual simile. Together these chapters dem-
onstrate my major point: the individual simile—even the shortest one—is
the result of a complex process that requires the participation of both poet
and audience.
The translations are mine; I have everywhere tried to follow the original
closely and have not added the Greek text of each simile.
Many friends have aided me in completing this study. E. M. Bradley,
E. Bakker, M. Edwards, J. Foley, J. A. W. Heffernan, C. Higbie, E. Minchin,
G. Nagy, R. Rabel, H. Tell, W. G. Thalmann, and L. Whaley have been loyal
guides as the book took shape. To them and to the many other friends and
colleagues who have offered generous criticism, I offer my appreciation.
The publication of this book in its double format has depended on close
and friendly cooperation with the Dartmouth College Library and the Uni-
versity Press of New England. I wish to express my thanks for the interest
and enthusiasm of Michael P. Burton, the Director of the Press, and Jeffrey L.
Horrell, the Librarian of the College, as well as Phyllis Deutsch, William Fon-
taine, Elizabeth Kirk, and David Seaman.
Hanover, New Hampshire
W.C.S.
viii · Preface
The Artistry of the Homeric Simile
chapter one
Similes, the Shield of Achilles,
and Other Digressions
Similes are often repeated with very little change, they
accumulate when there is no need, and they compare where
there is nothing comparable. Great art would consist in making
one large and highly appropriate simile. Homer becomes too
carried away with his own similes and forgets narrative.
m. de la motte1
In the eighteenth book of Homer’s Iliad Hephaistos makes a new shield for
Achilles.2 The description of this shield is justly famed as a small master-
work in its own right as well as being the prototype for later poets and writers
who include art objects within their works.3 The most notable ancient exam-
ples are The Shield of Heracles, the shields in the central scene of Aeschylus’
Seven against Thebes, the cup in Theocritus’ first Idyll, the tapestry in Catullus’
epyllion on the marriage of Peleus and Thetis (c. 64), and the shield of Aeneas
in book 8 of The Aeneid. These ekphrases occupy so large a portion of each
work that they are necessarily major elements in the overall design.4
Homer often describes objects and implements in the course of his nar-
rative, even pausing in the midst of events to present a detailed picture of
some article drawn from the background. Book 11 of the Iliad contains three
examples. The first and second are the descriptions of the breastplate and the
shield of Agamemnon embedded in his arming scene (11.19–40); the third
is “Nestor’s cup” (11.632–37). The presentation of each object is sufficiently
detailed that it has been possible to find fragmentary yet often rather pre-
cise remains that parallel the verbal descriptions.5 These descriptions focus
sharply on physical features. While they may interrupt an action, they do
so only long enough to permit a listing of the elements that would meet the
eye of the observer. Such quick sketches of a person’s possessions, however,
strengthen the characterization being developed in the larger passage. The
1
Description:The similes in Homer are treasure troves. They describe scenes of Greek life that are not presented in their simplest form anywhere else: landscapes and seascapes, storms and calm weather, fighting among animals, civic disputes, athletic contests, horse races, community entertainment, women involved
