Today’s post – “Similes in the Iliad: The Horrors of War” – is authored by Igor da Silva Livramento. He’s a fellow academic from UFSC, fellow author, fellow creative-writing advisor, and overall a great fellow. He’s also a composer, music theorist, and producer. Check out his papers on Academia.edu, his music on Bandcamp, and his personal musings on his blog – in Portuguese, Spanish/Castilian, and English. You can also find him on LinkedIn.
I know this must be one of the most common themes of all time. Any individual who is minimally literate and in possession of some literary culture knows that the Iliad is full of great similes.
Contrary to what it may seem at first glance, these artful chunks of language exhibit more than the eye can see: They establish Homer’s views on war in a manner that is surreptitiously under our noses. Through a game of hiding what is in plain sight, Homer criticizes the war at the same time that he seems only to report what is happening on the battlefield.
