An epic simile is an extended simile that compares one
composite action with another. The device was originally used in the poetry of Homer
and has since been utilized in other epic works. This passage from the beginning of
Beowulf is an epic simile because it relates the story of Beowulf’s past. Readers see
the simile introduced with the traditional “like” keyword at the beginning and Beowulf
tell his story comparing it to the pain and struggle an old may have had to endure when
watching his son executed.
It was
like the misery felt by an old man
who has lived to see his son's
body
swing on the gallows. He begins to keen
and weep for his boy,
watching the raven
gloat where he hangs; he can be of no help.
The
wisdom of age is worthless to him.
Morning after morning, he wakes to
remember
that his child is gone; he has no interest
in living on
until another heir
is born in the hall, now that his first-born
has
entered death's dominion forever.
He gazes sorrowfully at his son's
dwelling,
the banquet hall bereft of all delight,
the windswept
hearthstone; the horsemen are sleeping,
the warriors under ground; what was is
no more.
No tunes from the harp, no cheer raised in the yard.
Alone
with his longing, he lies down on his bed
and sings a lament; everything seems
too large,
the steadings and the fields.
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