The Stories of Similes in Greek and Roman Epic

Just as the story of an epic poem is woven from characters and plot,
so too the individual similes within an epic create a unique simile
world. Like any other story, the epic poem is peopled by individual
characters, happenings, and experiences, such as the shepherd and his
flocks, a storm at sea, or predators hunting prey. The simile world
that complements the epic mythological story is reimagined afresh in
relation to the themes of each epic poem. As Deborah Beck argues in
this stimulating book, over time, a simile world takes shape across
many poems composed over many centuries. This evolving landscape
resembles the epic story world of battles, voyages, and heroes that
comes into being through relationships among different epic poems.
Epic narrative is woven from a warp of the mythological story world
and a weft of the simile world. They are partners in creating the fabric
of epic poetry.