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Definition of Simile
A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things. To make the comparison, similes most often use the connecting words "like" or "as," but can also... read full definition
A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things. To make the comparison, similes most often use the connecting words "like... read full definition
A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things. To make the comparison, similes most often... read full definition
Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—Egg Yolks:
In the following example of metaphor from Chapter 30, Patroclus compares Troy to an uncrackable egg, with Helen as its "precious gold yolk":
I will crack their uncrackable city, and capture Helen, the precious gold yolk within. I imagine dragging her out under my arm, dumping her before Menelaus. Done. No more men will have to die for her vanity.
Recall that Patroclus uses similar figurative language in a simile in Chapter 3 to describe Clysonymus' murder:
That night I dreamed of the dead boy, his skull cracked like an egg against the ground. He has followed me. The blood spreads, dark as spilled wine.
This shift in figurative usage serves as commentary on the destruction of innocence and youth, along with morality, in a wartime setting. Patroclus once abhorred violence; he considered life precious—even the life of a boy who bullied him. Patroclus dreams of Clysonymus's skull "cracked like an egg against the ground." Such phrasing implies that Patroclus views Clysonymus's death as a senseless waste, like an egg dashed against the ground and no longer edible.
By contrast, Patroclus later yearns to crack an "uncrackable egg"—the city of Troy—and forcibly extract Helen, its precious yolk. This egg metaphor no longer represents Patroclus's aversion to violence. It is, rather, an incitement to violence, which Patroclus attempts to justify: "no more men will have to die for her vanity." In truth, many more will die attempting to "crack" Troy, including Patroclus himself.
Related Themes:
Chapter 4
Explanation and Analysis—Deer and Hunter:
In Chapter 4, Patroclus utilizes a series of hunting-centric similes and imagery, describing his burgeoning relationship with Achilles. This figurative language reveals something of Patroclus's self-perception. He compares Achilles to a deer, "listening for the hunter's bow," placing himself in the position of the hunter:
“Then take me with you to your lessons,” I said. “So it won’t be a lie.”
His eyebrows lifted, and he regarded me. He was utterly still, the type of quiet that I had thought could not belong to humans, a stilling of everything but breath and pulse—like a deer, listening for the hunter’s bow. I found myself holding my breath.
Patroclus views himself as dangerous to Achilles, potentially corrupting. This implication subverts their traditional roles and dynamic, given that Achilles is far more dangerous a warrior than Patroclus will ever be. Patroclus is no physical danger to Achilles; rather, he represents a potential vulnerability for the young warrior. In loving Patroclus, Achilles is susceptible to outside manipulation.
In a later excerpt from Chapter 4, Patroclus continues to use this hunter-deer language:
[Achilles'] head fell back a little, exposing his throat, supple and fawn-skin soft.
Patroclus observes Achilles keenly, as a hunter would a deer. Such is his obsession with the statuesque young son of Thetis.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Fish and Hook:
Throughout Chapter 4, Patroclus and Achilles begin an elaborate courtship that continues over the course of several chapters, eventually concluding in Chapter 10 when the two boys begin their romantic relationship. In the following example of simile from Chapter 4, Patroclus alludes to the beginning of this dance:
At least once a dinner he would turn and catch me before I could feign indifference. Those seconds, half seconds, that the line of our gaze connected, were the only moment in my day that I felt anything at all. The sudden swoop of my stomach, the coursing anger. I was like a fish eyeing the hook.
Patroclus compares himself to a "fish eyeing the hook" whenever Achilles makes eye contact with him. This simile implies that Achilles purposefully catches Patroclus's gaze—baiting him, enticing him. Patroclus's attraction to Achilles manifests as anger within him because he does not know how else to categorize it. He feels trapped by Achilles, unable to look away; he blames the subject of his fascination for their mutual interest.
Thus ensnared, Patroclus begins a subtle battle for Achilles's attention. The two continue to tempt one another with looks, each pulled into the orbit of the other, each taking the "bait" from the other's "hook." In due time, the two boys collide—first in friendship, then in something beyond it.
Related Themes:
Chapter 6
Explanation and Analysis—Youth and Springtime:
In general, throughout The Song of Achilles, Miller uses figurative language and imagery associated with springtime to speak about Achilles and Patroclus's youth. This is a common motif in Western literature, given the fact that spring carries connotations of newness. For example, in the following excerpt from Chapter 6, Patroclus uses simile to compare his friendship with Achilles to "spring floods":
Our friendship came all at once after that, like spring floods from the mountains.
The boys' youth and eagerness causes their intimacy to bubble forth rapidly, like the surge of water descending from the mountains when the winter snows melt.
This springtime motif is used not only to indicate youth and innocence, but new realizations. Take, for example, the following passage from Chapter 12:
Something shifted in me then, like the frozen surface of the Apidanos in spring. I had seen the way he looked at Deidameia; or rather the way he did not. It was the same way he had looked at the boys in Phthia, blank and unseeing. He had never, not once, looked at me that way.
Patroclus newly realizes the devotion Achilles feels for him and him alone. This realization appears like a crack in the ice in springtime—a thawing lake. It is in this moment that Patroclus learns how truly special he is to Achilles, singular amongst all others, male and female alike.
Related Themes:
Chapter 10
Explanation and Analysis—Gods:
In an important example of simile from Chapter 10, Patroclus compares both himself and Achilles to gods:
Later, we lay on the riverbank, learning the lines of each other’s bodies anew. This, and this and this. We were like gods at the dawning of the world, and our joy was so bright we could see nothing else but the other.
This simile would be rather unremarkable if not for the fact that Patroclus includes himself: "we were like gods at the dawning of the world." Through his love for Achilles, Patroclus finds a sense of joy and self-worth that makes him forget, even for just a moment, that he is a "dull" mortal.
It is significant that this moment of conferred "godhood" occurs after Achilles and Patroclus first have sex. The two are, in some ways, closer than they have ever been—more in tune with their own bodies, with one another's bodies, and with the world around them. Both boys feel a sense of control and agency unlike any they have felt elsewhere. Through their affection for one another, they are empowered.
As "gods" of their own little world, Achilles and Patroclus feel a sense of control over their fate. Tragically, they soon lose this sense of control after Thetis reveals her prophecy, foretelling Achilles's imminent death.
Related Themes:
Chapter 12
Explanation and Analysis—Youth and Springtime:
In general, throughout The Song of Achilles, Miller uses figurative language and imagery associated with springtime to speak about Achilles and Patroclus's youth. This is a common motif in Western literature, given the fact that spring carries connotations of newness. For example, in the following excerpt from Chapter 6, Patroclus uses simile to compare his friendship with Achilles to "spring floods":
Our friendship came all at once after that, like spring floods from the mountains.
The boys' youth and eagerness causes their intimacy to bubble forth rapidly, like the surge of water descending from the mountains when the winter snows melt.
This springtime motif is used not only to indicate youth and innocence, but new realizations. Take, for example, the following passage from Chapter 12:
Something shifted in me then, like the frozen surface of the Apidanos in spring. I had seen the way he looked at Deidameia; or rather the way he did not. It was the same way he had looked at the boys in Phthia, blank and unseeing. He had never, not once, looked at me that way.
Patroclus newly realizes the devotion Achilles feels for him and him alone. This realization appears like a crack in the ice in springtime—a thawing lake. It is in this moment that Patroclus learns how truly special he is to Achilles, singular amongst all others, male and female alike.
Related Themes:
Chapter 13
Explanation and Analysis—Infantilization:
In The Song of Achilles, women mostly feature as secondary characters: devices or vessels through which men channel their desires, ambitions, and progeny, only later to scorn and demean them for the sake of power, respect, or simple convenience (i.e. Patroclus's mother, Deidameia, Briseis, Helen). If women are not used by men, they are demonized and portrayed unfavorably (Thetis). Femininity is lesser, weaker; if it is not, it is unnatural.
An example occurs in Chapter 13, when Deidameia has Patroclus brought before her. In two prominent examples of figurative language, Patroclus compares Deidameia to a child, infantilizing her. In the first example—one of indirect metaphor—Patroclus compares Deidameia's confused rejection to childlike questioning:
“Achilles does not regard me.” Her voice trembled a little. “Even though I bear his child and am his wife. Do you—know why this is so?” It was a child’s question, like why the rain falls or why the sea’s motion never ceases. I felt older than her, though I was not.
Patroclus cannot fathom why Deidameia cannot understand Achilles, nor comprehend his lack of interest. He pities her as he would an uninformed child, condescending to her lowered position.
Later on in their encounter, Patroclus comforts Deidameia, this time comparing her directly to a child through simile:
Almost unwillingly, I stepped towards her. She gave a small sigh, like a sleepy child, and drooped gratefully into the circle of my arms. Her tears bled through my tunic; I held the curves of her waist, felt the warm, soft skin of her arms
Despite being near strangers, Patroclus appears to feel some paternal condescension towards Deidameia that colors his interactions with her, leading him to infantilize her. While this form of misogynistic thinking is less harmful than outright physical violence, it nonetheless goes to show that in a male-centric society, even a man as empathetic to women as Patroclus still may treat women as his inferiors.
Related Themes:
Chapter 30
Explanation and Analysis—Egg Yolks:
In the following example of metaphor from Chapter 30, Patroclus compares Troy to an uncrackable egg, with Helen as its "precious gold yolk":
I will crack their uncrackable city, and capture Helen, the precious gold yolk within. I imagine dragging her out under my arm, dumping her before Menelaus. Done. No more men will have to die for her vanity.
Recall that Patroclus uses similar figurative language in a simile in Chapter 3 to describe Clysonymus' murder:
That night I dreamed of the dead boy, his skull cracked like an egg against the ground. He has followed me. The blood spreads, dark as spilled wine.
This shift in figurative usage serves as commentary on the destruction of innocence and youth, along with morality, in a wartime setting. Patroclus once abhorred violence; he considered life precious—even the life of a boy who bullied him. Patroclus dreams of Clysonymus's skull "cracked like an egg against the ground." Such phrasing implies that Patroclus views Clysonymus's death as a senseless waste, like an egg dashed against the ground and no longer edible.
By contrast, Patroclus later yearns to crack an "uncrackable egg"—the city of Troy—and forcibly extract Helen, its precious yolk. This egg metaphor no longer represents Patroclus's aversion to violence. It is, rather, an incitement to violence, which Patroclus attempts to justify: "no more men will have to die for her vanity." In truth, many more will die attempting to "crack" Troy, including Patroclus himself.
Related Themes:
