Simile Post, Nick Cellino

In Book 12 of the Iliad, the Trojans are becoming increasingly aggressive, attempting to storm the Achaean fortifications and burn down their ships. Two strong Lapith spearmen, Polypoetes and Leonteus, meet the Trojans at the wall to defend the Achaean fortifications:

They fought strongly, confident in their might
And in the support from those on the wall above
Who rained down stones from the fortifications
In defense of their own lives, their huts
And their seafaring ships.

The stones fell like snow
Down to the ground, falling, falling, like flakes
A cold wind from the shadowy clouds
Drives thick and fast upon the bountiful earth. Iliad 12.157-65 (Lombardo translation)

In this simile, the tenors are the stones raining down from the fortifications. These stones are compared to snow flakes, which are the vehicle of the simile. What these two things have in common is that they are both falling from the sky in large quantities, and, just as the stones are suppressing the Trojan warriors, snow suppresses plant-life, the things that grow "upon the bountiful earth" (Iliad 12.165). What is much more striking, though, is the contrast between them, and this causes the simile to have a very interesting effect on the tone of the story being told. The scene being described in the lines before the simile is a brutal war scene in which men are fighting "like a pair of wild boars" (Iliad 12.149). The snow simile breaks this up by comparing something violent and malicious, stones being used as projectiles, to something peaceful and beautiful. This removes the reader from the battle scene for a moment and describes a much calmer, quieter setting for you to imagine in which all you can hear is the wind. It is only for a brief moment, though, as the stone-throwing actions resumes immediately after the simile. The brief respite from the battle scene provides a little bit of variety and serves to break up the intense scene with a calm one.