Step Two : As you read, look for the vivid imagery or similes that have made The Odyssey so famous. The following example of an Epic Simile compares the way the sea pulls Odysseus out of the rocks and the way a fisherman pulls a squid out of its lair. Notice the clever inversions between land-creatures and sea-creatures.
The inward debate was cut short by a tremendous wave which swept him forward to the rugged shore, where his skin would have been torn off him and all his bones broken, had not the bright-eyed goddess Athene put into his head to grab hold of a rock with both hands as he was swept in. He clung there groaning while the great wave swept by. But no sooner had he escaped its fury than its backward rush caught him with full force and flung him far out to sea. Pieces of skin stripped from his sturdy hands were left sticking to the crag, like the pebbless that stick to the suckers of a squid when it is torn from his lair.
Homer. The Odyssey. E. V. Rieu, trans. NY: Penguin, 2003.
Book 5, lines 424-433.
Step Three: Once you have found your simile, post it to the DB titled "Epic Simile Extra Credit" by the deadline and explain the two things that are being compared, and how the simile enriches Homer's epic. Note that you select a simile that someone else has already used, you will only receive 10 points.
Required minimum-500 words