Odyssey, Part 2
What is the effect of the epic simile in lines 118–131 of the
Odyssey, Part 2?
"Now, being a man, I could not help consenting.
So I went down to the sea beach and the ship,
where I found all my other men on board, 120
weeping, in despair along the benches.
Sometimes in farmyards when the cows return
well-fed from pasture to the barn, one sees
the pens give way before the calves in tumult,
breaking through to cluster about their mothers, 125
bumping together, bawling. Just that way
my crew poured round me when they saw me come—
their faces wet with tears as if they saw
their homeland, and the crags of Ithaca,
even the very town where they were born."
(1 point)
to compare Odysseus's men to beasts
to criticize Odysseus's men's lack of loyalty
to reveal Odysseus's hurry to go back and free his men
to show how Odysseus's men depended on him