The Homeric Simile: Its Nature and Function
The use of Homeric or epic similes is an important feature of the epic. They are called Homeric because the Greek epic poet Homer was the first to use them, and they are called ‘epic’ because following the example of Homer they have been used by all succeeding epic- poets. They differ from an ordinary simile inasmuch as the epic poet goes much beyond the point of comparison between the two similar objects compared, and digresses into the building up of an elaborate word picture which is almost a short poem in itself and which dilates and expands the imagination of the reader. The simile is, therefore, also called ‘long-tailed’. In it, the attention is soon shifted from the object of comparison to that with which it is compared. Epic poets generally use such similes to decorate their diction, to provide the charm of variety, and to lengthen the poem.
Over-abundance and Frequency
Milton’s similes are more frequent and abundant, at least in Book I and II, than is the case even with Homer. Thus in Book I in about fifty lines (302-356) we get as many as six similes. Such abundance is not to be found in Homer or Virgil. The number and frequency of the similes fall off progressively in the other books. This is so much so the case that Hanford speaks of the two styles of Milton- the highly figurative and pictorial style of the first book, and the more austere and plain style of the other books.
Learned and Elaborate
Just as Milton’s similes are more frequent and abundant than those of other epic poets, so also they are more elaborate and learned. Throughout his style and diction, Milton tried to achieve sublimity and grandeur, and this is also done by the use of elaborate and learned similes. Says Raleigh in this connection, “The same motives and tendencies, the same consistent care for remoteness and loftiness, may be seen in the character of the similes that he most frequently employs. Almost all his figures and comparisons illustrate concrete objects by concrete objects, and occurrences in time by other occurrences later in time.”
Historic Parallels
His figures may be called historic parallels, whereby the names and incidents of human history are made to elucidate and ennoble the less familiar names and incidents of his pre-historic theme. Sometimes, following Homer, he borrows a figure from rustic life, where, for instance, he compares the devils, crowding into Pandemonium, to a swarm of bees. But he prefers to maintain dignity and distance by choosing comparisons from ancient history and mythology; or from those great and strange things in Nature which repel intimacy- the sun, the moon, the sea, planets in opposition, a shooting star, an evening mist, a will-o’-the-wisp, a vulture descending from the Himalayas, the sea-beast leviathan, and a hundred more reminiscences of the ancient world. In this way, variety, vastness and amplitude are added to the narrative which could not have been added in any other way.
Use of Suggestive Similes
Milton was dealing with events, situations and characters which lie outside the pale of human experience and which cannot be expressed by the resources of the ordinary human tongue. Milton’s similes enable him to express the inexpressible. Thus in order to convey an idea of the huge bulk of Satan, Milton first compares him to Titans, “Briareos or Typhon”, and then to, “that sea-beast Leviathan”. The simile also enables us to form an idea of the size of Hell, for the huge form of Satan was lying in a mere lake, the Lake of Fire, forming a small part of Hell. So, Hell must really be a place of unimaginable magnitude. Similarly, an idea of the broad circumference of Satan’s shield is given to us by comparing it to the orb of the Moon as viewed through the “optic glass” of “the Tuscan artist”. An idea of the size of his spear is given by the use of a negative simile. We hope that Satan’s spear would be as tall as the huge pines which are used to make the most of some ‘admiral ship’. But no, such masts are mere wands in comparison with his spear.
Telescoping of the Past and the Future
Milton’s epic similes are highly suggestive. They open out vast vistas before the mind’s eye, look backwards and forwards, and telescope the past and the future in the present. They look back to the events which have already taken place and anticipate the events to come. Take for example the following:
Or that sea-beast
Leviathan, which God of all his works
Created hugest, that swim the ocean stream;
Him haply slumbering on the Norway foam,
The pilot of some small night-foundered skiff,
Deeming it some land, oft, as seamen tell,
With fixed anchor in his scaly rind
Moors by his side under the lee, while night,
Invests the sea, and wished for morn delays.
This simile gives us an idea of the size of Satan. But this is not all. The bestiality of Satan is also stressed. Further, as Leviathan beguiles the innocent sea men, so did Satan beguile Eve later in the poem. Thus the simile anticipates something that is to happen. Further, as the Leviathan delays the morn, and thus misguides the sea-men, so did Satan’s form, the symbol of darkness, darken light and knowledge in Eve, “and this caused them woe”.
Similarly in the following:
Or scattered sedge,
Afloat, when with fierce winds Orion armed
Hath vexed the Red Sea coast, whose waves over-threw,
Busiris and his Memphian Chivalry
While with perfidious hatred they pursued
The sojourners of Goshen, who beheld
From the safe shore their floating carcasses
And broken chariot wheels
The comparison brings out many details. The devils are as large in number as the countless little leaves fallen and scattered on the Red Sea which is like the lake of fire in hell. The Egyptian army could not stand the might of the rod of Moses; so Satan and his followers could not stand the thunder of God. Satan and his followers are linked up with the Pharoah and his armies in treachery and Moses is linked up with God. As ‘evil’ represented by Pharoah could not stand the ‘good’ represented by Moses, so Satan could not stand the ‘good’ represented by God. Again, as Pharoah heaped on himself total ruin, so would Satan heap on himself total damnation.
Forward Movement
There is a gradual progression or forward movement in the epic- similes of Milton in keeping with the onward movement of the story. Thus as long as Satan’s followers lie floating on the surface of the lake of fire, they are compared to fallen leaves or sea-weed on the surface of the Red Sea; when they fly in the air they are compared to the swarm of locusts which darkened the sky of Egypt when the Egyptian king treacherously attacked Israelites, the chosen people of God: when they have lighted on the desolate and dreary plain pointed out to them by their chief, they are likened to the northern hordes which invaded the southern countries of Europe from time to time: and later on when they stand in battle array, ready to wage war against the Almighty, the poet gives an idea of their awful numbers and united force by likening them to various huge armies of which we have been told in legend and history since the creation of man.
Impart Human Interest and Variety
It has been said that Paradise Lost is weak in human interest, but this human interest is provided in ample measure by the Homeric similes. Says John Bailey, through his similes Milton brings, in “all the history of the world and all its geography, art, science and learning, the Jew, the Christian and the Pagan, Greek philosophy and Roman politics, classical myth, mediaeval romance, and even the contemporary life of his own experience.” For example, in the following simile, he begins with the Homeric wolf and ends with the Roman and Laudian clergy. Satan has leapt over the wall of Paradise and the simile begins-
“As when a prowling wolf,
Whom hunger drives to seek new haunt for prey,
Watching where shepherds pen their flocks at eve
In hurdled cotes amid the field secure,
Leaps o’er the fence with ease into the fold:
Or as a thief bent to unhoard the cash
Of some rich burgher, whose substantial doors,
Cross-barred and bolted fast, fear no assault,
In at the window climbs, or o’er the tiles:
So clomb this first grand Thief into God’s fold;
So since into his Church lewd hirelings climb.”
The last line smacks perhaps more of the angry pamphleteer than fits with classical sanity; but how admirably the London citizen’s house gives vivid reality to the beautiful remoteness of the wolf which English shepherds had long forgotten to fear; how the recollection, present to every reader’s mind, of that very simile in the Gospel of St. John, prepares the way for its religious application here: how the attention is seized by that magnificent line of arresting mono-syllables, each heavy with the sense of fate-
“So clomb this first grand Thief into God’s fold!”
Thus, Milton uses his similes to introduce things familiar and contemporary into the remote and majestic theme of his poem. “But he also uses them to introduce the whole world into Eden, all later history into the beginning of the world, all the varied glories of art and war, poetry and legend, with which his memory was stored, into an action which was only partly human and provided no scope at all for any human activities except the most primitive order.” So, the palace of Hell is he tells us, something far beyond the magnificence of “Babylon, or great Alcairo”; and the army of rebel angels far exceeds those,
“That fought at Thebes and Ilium, on each side
Mixed with auxiliary gods; etc,”
Provide Diversion or Dramatic Relief
Milton employs the Homeric simile to overcome a sense of tediousness and gives a refreshing tone to a lengthy description which might otherwise bore and fatigue the readers. More specially, at moments of crisis, some refreshing comparison is used to divert the attention of the readers from the impending disaster, and thus lessen the tragic stress and strain as well as heighten the effect of the tragic crisis which soon follows. According to John Bailey, “By their assistance he gives rest to the imagination exhausted by the sublimity of heaven and hell, bringing it home to its own familiar earth, to scenes whose charm, unlike that of Eden or Pandemonium, lies not in the wonder their strangeness excites but in the old habits, experiences and memories which they recall” So, after the strain of the great debate with which Book II opens, he soothes us with the beautiful simile of the evening after the storm-
“As, when from mountain-tops the dusky clouds
Ascending, while the North-wind sleeps, o’erspread
Heaven’s cheerful face, the louring element
Scowls o’er the darkened landskip snow or shower,
If chance the radiant sun, with farewell sweet,
Extend his evening beam, the fields revive,
The birds their notes renew, and bleating herds
Attest their joy, that hill and valley rings.”
Criticism of Milton’s Similes
Milton’s similes have been criticised on various counts. It has been said that they are merely decorative or that they are pedantic, a mere display of Milton’s stupendous learning which is a stumbling block in the way of the readers. It has also been pointed out that they are mere digressions which divert the attention from the main narrative. Milton forgets the subject of comparison and is lost in an elaborate description of the object to which the subject resembles in some one particular only. However, as the above discussion has shown Milton’s similes are strictly functional. They are an integral part of his technique of communication. They impart variety, vastness and amplitude to the epic, and elevation and dignity to Milton s style and diction.
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