“Like a mother bird hurrying morsels back to her unfledged young – whatever she can catch – but it’s all starvation wages for herself.”

Here, what I assume is Achilles speaking, (I don’t know I could be wrong, I find it very hard keeping up with all the names Homer’s throwing around) he seems to be comparing this passage to his service to King Agamemnon. I find this somewhat misleading, because, what the mother bird is doing, is, selflessly, taking care of her young. Whereas Achilles is feeding only one mans greed. He then goes on to say – “Twelve Cities I’ve stormed and sacked from shipboard, eleven I claim by land, on fertile earth Troy. And from all I dragged off piles of splendid plunder, hauled it away and always gave the lot to Agamemnon.” This passage makes it sound like he gave it away not my choice but by force. Whereas the mother bird is feeding her children because, it’s in her nature and she’s hopeful that they’ll one day grow.

Aside from this, it is very poetic, and I’m finding myself diving deep into the text. I still have the first passage of the book constantly running through my mind – “Rage-Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus’ son Achilles. I wonder if this is where some modern day Heavy Metal bands get their inspiration from – Rage! Ha I love it.

As you read through Book 6 of the Iliad (and, for Tuesday’s class, Book 9), be on the lookout for what are called “epic similes.” We haven’t yet talked about these in class, but once you know what they are, they’re easy to spot–and they’re all over the place.

Let’s start off by defining what a simile is. Merriam-Webster defines “simile” as “a phrase that uses the words like or as to describe someone or something by comparing it with someone or something else that is similar.” Here are a couple of examples: “the cake was as light as air”; “her dress was as white as snow.” Think about the thing being described in each example (cake, a dress) and what features of it are being emphasized through the simile (lightness, whiteness).

In epic poetry, including The Iliad, similes are often used to make the action more vivid. They can really help us picture what is happening on the battlefield. These similes are often long–rather than being just a few words long, as in the examples above, they can be several lines long. We call these “epic similes.”  Here is an example from Book 6 (lines 171-175): “Like the generations of leaves, the lives of mortal men. / Now the wind scatters the old leaves across the earth, / now the living timber bursts with the new buds / and spring comes round again. And so with men: / as one generation comes to life, another dies away.” In this epic simile, the thing being described is “the lives of mortal men.” In order to tell us something about mortal men’s lives, the poet is comparing them to “the generations of leaves.” How might this comparison work? What does it tell us about the lives of mortal men?

Here’s another example, from the opening lines of Book 9: “As crosswinds chop the sea where the fish swarm,/the North Wind and the West Wind blasting out of Thrace/in sudden, lightning attack, wave on blacker wave, cresting, / heaving a tangled mass of seaweed out along the surf–/so the Achaeans’ hearts were torn inside their chests” (ll. 4-8).

Your assignment for this week (due by 11:59 pm on Sunday night) is to find an epic simile in EITHER Book 6 or Book 9 and to tell us 1) what is being described and 2) what it is being compared to. Finally, you must propose an answer to the question, “what does this comparison tell us about the thing being described?” So, to take one of our first, simplest examples, you would answer 1) the cake 2) air 3) we’re being told that the cake is really light and fluffy. Please find a new epic simile, rather than using either of the two examples from The Iliad that are provided above. (Hint: look for the words “Like” and “As” followed several lines later by “so.” And for those who are really stuck…there’s a nice epic simile on page 212.)

This assignment will be key to getting started on your first essay assignment, about which we’ll have more to say in class next week.  Please add your thoughts as comments on this post, rather than as new posts to the blog. They can be short or, if you feel inspired and have a lot to say about the simile you’ve found, feel free. Please limit your comments, however, to 300 words maximum. Good luck!

I find Book 1 to be a very interesting read. At first, I was very much confused of what was happening in the story. I am not very used to the language used in this text. But, I do have an interest in Greek Mythology which helped me continue reading. That is when I realized Book 1 is a story of a movie I had previously watched. The movie is called “Troy.” Being that I had watched the movie already, it really helped me follow the story in Book 1. Whenever something confused me, I reflected back to the movie and I was able to better understand what was occurring in the book.

Book 1 gave us the background story of the upcoming war and how it all began. Beginning with Agememnom refusing to return Chryses daughter to him, Agememnon then turns against Achilles when he tries to convince him to save his people and return the girl. Book 1 lets us know that women played a huge role in Greek Mythology as entire wars were started for women. I found it interesting how Agememnom decided to turn against his best warrior Achilles and take his woman away from him. Although Achilles reached out to his mother who then made Zeus agree to punish the Achaean armies, I look forward to see how the dynamic between Zues and his wife Hera will play out. I wonder if Zeus will continue to help Achilles if his wife is against it. Like every Greek Mythology story, the Gods are heavily involved in all aspects. I made the connection from reading Book 1 that often when the humans go to war, the Gods are at conflict as well and when the Gods go to war, so do the humans.

Book one of Iliad contains a lot of information, I had to read it carefully and multiple times to get a sense of the relationships and what is happening in the story. Book one introduces us that this is a story about war and is involved with Gods. Unlike most religions which gods are almighty and impartial, and are for saving people from wars. Gods in Iliad are just human with supernatural power. They have their selfish desires; which, for example, Apollo sent plague to the camp and caused the death of many soldiers in order to return Briseis from Achilles, and Thetis asks Zeus to punish the Achaeans because of her son’s quarrel with Agamemnon.

In regarding to Achilles and Agamemnon, I feel that both of them are not mature. As a leader, Agamemnon should give up Chryseis (a prize) to placate Achilles because he is one of the most valuable warriors, and being generous is one of the characters a leader should have. This will also unite his troops and make them loyal to him. Achilles’ immature is reflected when he cries to his mother about the unfairness and asks her to punish the Achaeans. Because of the injustice he has, the innocent Achaeans become the victims of Zeus punishment. If both of them could take a step back, a war could be avoided and lots of innocent lives will not be taken. As leaders, they are selfish and not for the sake of civilians.

“Troy” in 2004. Brad Pitt as Achilles and Diane Kruger as Helen.

I enjoyed reading the book one of The Iliad more than I expected. It is probably because I watched the movie “Troy” years ago, which makes it easier for me to understand the story. Achilles, the son of Zeus, appears as a war hero with superhuman strength and ability. He went into a quarrel with Agamemnon, the commander of Achaean army because of a woman, Briseis. The conflict between Agamemnon and Achilles showed one of the elements ancient Greeks valued the most, personal honor. Achilles was disrespected because Briseis, who he considered as an award, was taken away from him by Agamemnon.

Similar to other Greeks mythology stories, the Olympian gods are involved in The Iliad. Ancient Greeks explain different events and phenomena as the acts of the Olympian gods. For example, Achaeans believed that the plague was a punishment of disrespecting Apollo’s priest. I think the Olympian gods were the ultimate reason that caused events, even the Trojan war.

It is interesting for me to read this story because every scene in the book reminds me of the movie “Troy”. Greeks mythology is always one of my favorite types of story to read. Achilles may not be my favorite divine hero among all the Greeks stories (My favorite is Perseus), but he is definitely one of the most fascinating one. The Trajan war being the background of The Iliad provided an unique element to enhance Achilles heroic aspect, which shows how an individual can alter a war tremendously.

After reading book 1, I was still a little lost. With all the names and weird language, I had no choice but to look at a summary. Once reading the summary from spark notes I somewhat had a better understanding of what was going on. I found it really funny when it came to Agamemnon and Achilles. Their personality reminds me of myself and just about ever other guy at the gym, park, bar or any other completive events that includes women. Pride, aggression and honor are what Agamemnon and Achilles are made of, just like every guy today. Most of society believes that if you have these traits you are a man or alpha male. I to, believe in pride honor and have aggression but at the same time in another perspective these traits are nothing but greed and ignorant.

Agamemnon and Achilles fight over a woman, which is pretty funny as well cause that’s just about the same reason why men fight today. The only difference between fighting for a girl today than in this story is that we don’t go into a war and cause everyone else to die in battle or a plague. How is Achilles consider a great hero if he has to cry to his mother for help. It seems childish if a war hero has to ask his mother for help because someone took something from him. At the same time how is Agamemnon honorable if he disrespects a priest? Why wouldn’t he just let the daughter go when the father comes?

After I read the book one of The Iliad I see Achaean heroes were being selfish and childish. Because Agamemnon refused the ransom of Chryses to release his daughter and threatened him to leave. His action angered Apollo and caused the plague within the army. And Agamemnon refused the ransom was not because he loves Chryseis, it was because that she was his prize he won from the city. It surprised me that both Achilles and Agamemnon and other people in the story treat women not as a person but a property. They never asked these women’s opinion about their own fate and being handled like a mindless doll.

During the conflict between Achilles and Agamemnon. Even though Agamemnon was the one that caused all the trouble and deaths upon Achaean army, but with the help of gods and the elder backing him up he forced Achilles to give up Briseis to replace Chryseis as his prize. Within Achaean army, Agamemnon was in charge because he had a higher rank and bigger army than Achilles, which also makes him getting most of the prize when they rob the city. Achilles the son of a goddess with anger filled in him, but he held himself and gave up Briseis. His action surprised me and makes me like him, because unlike Agamemnon he can control himself and think about result of his action.

Before reading The Iliad, I have never heard of this book. I’m an international student from China and not familiar with  ancient western culture. I have seen the statue of the author Homer in the The Metropolitan Museum of Art.After reading the Book 1 of The Iliad, I think it’s an amazing story. I am not sure about the real history of the Trojan War. In the book 1, I know the king agamemnon and the hero Achilles. There is a war between them. Book 1 tells us what causes the war. The core of the war is Chryses’s daughter. After praying to the Muses, The story cut into the final stage of the Trojan War. Apollo’s priest Chryses Tory to the Greek forces intercede, hoping to redeem himself captive daughter of Agamemnon Chyseis with a heavy price. But Agamemnon refused. Chryses prayed to Apollo for help. Few days after the plague spread, Achilles convene a meeting to discuss a solution to quell the plague. Under pressure, Agamemnon agreed to put Chryseis back to her father. Finally, Apollo plague terminated immediately. It is really hard to understand the real meaning of the book. The words are confusing and the story is related to the history and myth. In order to understand the book better I’m going to find some materials about the Torjan War and Greek mythology. Overall, it is a amazing story happened long time ago. The story itself is attractive.

The Iliad, book one, is a very interesting book, but I think that the book is very difficult to comprehend. Some parts of the reading seems very interesting and understandable, but others are like if it were written in another language. I was back and forth reading and translating a lot of the words. I don’t know if it is because English in not my first language or in general this is a difficult book to follow and comprehend. Also sometime in reading the poem I would find myself going back to remember who they are talking about, because there were so many characters and with difficult names.

I’m not going to lie, if I can summarize this book it is based on what we went over in class. Achilles was a Greek hero who fights the Trojan, this war was to win Chryses’s daughter back, who was taken by the Achaean army. This war cost the Achaeans a lot of losses. In war Chryses begs Agamemnon to return his daughter. In return he offers to pay an enormous ransom. Chryses serves as a priest of the Apollo, and when Agamemnon refuses, Chryses prays to Apollo for help. With Apollo’s help the army was bigger and that caused the death of many more soldiers. Later, Chryses got his daughter back though and exchange.

Book one explained between Achilles and Agamemnon had conflict for the girl who named Brisies. Brisies were the daughter of Chryses where protected from Apollo. Achilles was one of the powerful warriors in Greece and he got the Brisies for the prize of the war. However, Agamemnon wanted to back Brisies to her home country because after Agamemnon refused to give back Chryses’s daughter to her father, Apollo got angry and spread the plague to Agamemnon’s army. Agamemnon wanted to stop to kill his army by plague but Achilles didn’t want her to go back to her country. On the other hand, Achilles refused to take Brisies back to Chryses because Achilles didn’t wants to lose his prize about war for the victory. These didn’t love between Achilles and Brisies because Ahcilles just wanted to keep his prizes, pride and power because if Agamemnon took Brisies back to Chryses, Achilles got nothing for the victory.

The Iliad book one had interested stories about god and goddess were listening human’s pray and involve in human’s battle. And Achilles had birth between human and goddess name Thetis. But also, had weird parts of god, goddess, and human were fighting for the girl. Troubling part was I don’t know the background or introduction part of the poem so I confused character’s name and what was the situation about. So, I was holding the dictionary and looking for the summary to make me understand more clearly.