The Iliad: Style 1 key example

Repetition shows up in other parts of the poem, too. In a few instances, the reader encounters the same speech two or three times, as characters disseminate messages on behalf of each other. Taking advantage of the necessities of military communication, Homer is able to play with larger-scale repetition. One can imagine that, when the poem was performed orally, these repeated speeches were fun for the audience—and gave the performing bard some relief.

Another feature highlighting the poem's epic style is Homer's many elaborated similes. In these similes, he often compares the events of the war to natural phenomena and scenes from everyday life. Besides illuminating specific moments in the narrative, these comparisons also give insight into ordinary life and traditions in the Ancient Greek world. Because Homer often uses mundane images to evoke the drama and suffering of war, the similes also allow him to comment on the entanglements of war and peace, creativity and destruction, and beauty and violence.

While this is typically not evident in translations, the style of the poem is also related to the metrical form Homer follows. Both the Iliad and The Odyssey follow dactylic hexameter, a meter used in Ancient Greek and Latin in which each line consists of six metrical feet, which are themselves normally composed of one long syllable follow by two short syllables. This meter doesn't tend to work all that well in modern English.