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Homeric Metaphors

This document discusses the use of metaphors in the works of Homer and John Milton. It explains that Homer frequently used similes comparing men to beasts like wolves to vividly depict scenes of war. One example given compares Achaeans mauling Trojans to wolves preying on lambs. Milton also employs this metaphorical style in Paradise Lost, comparing Satan's entrance into Eden to a prowling wolf leaping into a sheep pen. Both poets exploit mankind's primal fear of being helpless prey to invoke the terror of combat or betrayal. The document also analyzes the role of the shepherd in these passages as potentially representing negligent gods or free will allowing danger to enter.

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162 views

Homeric Metaphors

This document discusses the use of metaphors in the works of Homer and John Milton. It explains that Homer frequently used similes comparing men to beasts like wolves to vividly depict scenes of war. One example given compares Achaeans mauling Trojans to wolves preying on lambs. Milton also employs this metaphorical style in Paradise Lost, comparing Satan's entrance into Eden to a prowling wolf leaping into a sheep pen. Both poets exploit mankind's primal fear of being helpless prey to invoke the terror of combat or betrayal. The document also analyzes the role of the shepherd in these passages as potentially representing negligent gods or free will allowing danger to enter.

Uploaded by

bebamore
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Homeric Metaphors

Homer was the first, and arguably the greatest, user of similes
and metaphors to aid in the creation of vivid imagery in the minds of the
audience. Ancient Greek culture, as reflected by Homer, placed great value in
the achievement of glory through great physical feats such as slaying an archenemy in war or being the greatest competitor at a certain sport. This emphasis
on the corporeal qualities of man highlights the prominence of the tangible in
Greek culture. The importance of the physical aided in the evocation of the
primal nature in man that was manifested in Homers epics on war and struggle.
That very essence of man derived from the close relationship of the Greeks to
nature and all of its raw power in beasts, the expansive and unpredictable sea,
the weather and the land. Homer tapped into this Greek knowledge of and
relationship to nature in order to create his most powerful and lucid literary
comparisons. The innate power of his metaphorical style has been perpetuated
in the long epic tradition due to the eternally complex relationship between man
and nature.

Similes comparing men to various beasts are frequently used in


both The Iliad and the Odyssey. One of the most common comparisons is that of
men to wolves. Following is one of the eminent examples of this:

As ravenous wolves come


swooping down on lambs or kids

to snatch them away from


right amidst their flock all lost

when a careless shepherd


leaves them straggling down the hills

and quickly spotting a


chance the wolf pack picks them off,

no heart for the fight so


the Achaeans mauled the Trojans.[1]

The comparison of men to wolves immediately implies the aggressive and


predatory nature of unbridled men. They are not restrained by moral or ethical
considerations, but instead rage like Achilles when given the chance to assault
their foes. The fear that this unrestrained behavior invokes in the victim is
instinctual, and it is comprised of sheer terror and a sense of infinite helplessness
in the face of exposure to so brutal an enemy. It is also a fear that can be vividly
related to members of the audience, all of which have witnessed the quotidian
natural contests between vicious predator and helpless prey.

John Milton, a seventeenth century English poet, masterfully


renders the Homeric metaphorical style in Paradise Lost. In this epic struggle
between Heaven and Hell, man and Satan, and man against himself, Milton taps
into the power offered by the comparison of events to nature. For example, the
entrance of Satan into the world is portrayed as such:

As
when a prowling Wolf,

Whom hunger drives to seek


new haunt for prey,

Watching where Shepherds


pen thir Flocks at eve

In hurdl d Cotes amid the


field secure,

Leaps o er the fence with


ease into the Fold:

So clomb this first grand


Thief into Gods Fold[2]

Here Milton compares the arch-fiend, Satan, to a wolf that is thirsting for
the blood of a helpless victim. The reader knows the ultimate result of Satans
encounter with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, but is rendered helpless as
he follows along this most tragic of human stories. Like Homers Achaeans
mauling the Trojans, Miltons Satan waits for the moment at which his prey is
most unassuming, whereupon he easily enters the fold to destroy mans
innocence and virtue.

One of the more interesting aspects of these passages is the role


played by the shepherd. In Homers passage, the wolf strikes at the sheep
when a careless shepherd leaves them straggling down the hills. One could
argue that the careless shepherd in this instance is the gods who side with the
Trojans. At some point, even Thetis and Apollo cannot save the Trojans from
destruction wrought by both mortal and divine wrath. As Athena says in The
Odyssey, the great leveler, Death: not even the gods / can defend a man, not
even one they love, that day / when fate takes hold and lays him out at last.[3]
In Miltons passage, as is implied in Homers, the flock initially rests in a field
secure. Man is watched over by an omnipotent, all-loving God. But God gave
his subjects free will in order that they may choose freely to worship Him rather
than by necessity. Ultimately, it is precisely this free will that not only enables
Satan to rebel and subsequently climb into Gods Fold on earth, but also
serves as the mechanism whereby man betrays God and opens the gate of his
heart for Satan to jump in. In contrast with inescapable fate, it is individual
agency that allows Miltons wolf to enter into the fold of man. Despite this
difference, Milton is able to utilize the tradition of Homeric metaphors to deftly
depict the event which lies at the foundation of Paradise Lost.

[1] Homer, The Iliad [Trans. Robert Fagles], (New York: Penguin, 1990), p.
424 lines 415-19.

[2] John Milton, Paradise Lost [ed. Merritt Hughes], (New York: The
Odyssey press), p. 116 lines 183-92.

[3] Homer, The Odyssey [Trans. Robert Fagles], (New York: Penguin,
1997), p. 115 lines 269-71.

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