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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
Key Examples in The Aeneid
Book 1
Explanation and Analysis—As Bees in Early Summer:
In Book 1, Virgil uses a simile to compare the Tyrian workers to a swarm of bees. This simile captures the hum of Carthage and gives the reader a positive initial impression of the young city.
As Aeneas and Achates walk around Carthage shrouded in a mist of invisibility, they watch the city around them coming together: "Here they’re dredging a harbor, there they lay foundations deep for a theater, quarrying out of rock great columns to form a fitting scene for stages still to come." The narrator's descriptions of the city give an impression of industry and order, which contrasts with the stormy chaos of the beginning of Book 1.
As the descriptions of the workers continue, Virgil cements the reader's impression of the city's rhythm and prosperity with an extended simile.
Unlock with LitCharts A+As hard at their tasks as bees in early summer,
that work the blooming meadows under the sun,
they escort a new brood out, young adults now,
or press the oozing honey into the combs, the nectar
brimming the bulging cells, or gather up the plunder
workers haul back in, or close ranks like an army,
driving the drones, that lazy crew, from home.
The hive seethes with life, exhaling the scent
of honey sweet with thyme.
Related Themes:
Book 2
Explanation and Analysis—Snakes:
In Book 2, as Aeneas narrates the end of the Trojan War to Dido and the Carthaginians, he uses two separate similes relating to snakes. In the first simile, the snake represents the Trojans, which illustrates Aeneas's sense of strength and superiority over the Greeks. In the second simile, the snake represents a Greek fighter, illustrating the Trojan sense of victimhood.
About halfway through Book 2, Aeneas recounts the battle that follows the Greeks' successful incursion by way of the Trojan Horse. To begin with, Aeneas and his fellow soldiers have the upper hand. He makes this clear through a snake simile, in which he describes the Greek soldier Androgeos recoiling like a man who happens upon a snake in the forest:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Stunned, he recoiled, swallowing back his words
like a man who threads his way through prickly brambles,
pressing his full weight on the ground, and blindly treads
on a lurking snake and back he shrinks in instant fear
as it rears in anger, puffs its blue-black neck.
Related Themes:
Book 4
Explanation and Analysis—Doe and Maenad:
In Book 4, the narrator describes Dido's impassioned love for Aeneas. These descriptions feature similes depicting the queen as both an injured victim and as a raving madwoman, which captures the simultaneous vulnerability and fervor caused by her love.
Early in the book, the narrator describes Dido wandering around in the streets of Carthage:
Unlock with LitCharts A+like a wounded doe caught all off guard by a hunter
stalking the woods of Crete, who strikes her from afar
and leaves his winging steel in her flesh, and he’s unaware
but she veers in flight through Dicte’s woody glades,
fixed in her side the shaft that takes her life.
Related Themes:
Book 6
Explanation and Analysis—Interacting with the Dead:
During Aeneas's visit to the Underworld in Book 6, he interacts with various characters he knew in the world of the living before they died. In these interactions, Virgil illustrates the difference between life and death through figurative descriptions. When Aeneas interacts with Dido and Anchises, for example, similes show that these dead characters no longer have bodies—they consist only of souls.
After crossing the Styx and passing Cerberus, Aeneas recognizes Dido drifting around in the Fields of Mourning:
Unlock with LitCharts A+As the Trojan hero paused beside her, recognized her
through the shadows, a dim, misty figure—as one
when the month is young may see or seem to see
the new moon rising up through banks of clouds—
Related Themes:
Book 7
Explanation and Analysis—Fire and Fury:
In Book 7, Virgil uses a number of metaphors and similes relating to snakes to describe Allecto's possession of Amata and the Latin mothers. In addition to comparing the feverish, furious frenzy of the women to the fever caused by a snake's venom, he also likens it to the wild spinning of a top.
When Juno initially seeks out Allecto, Virgil describes the Fury as a "monster" whose "black snakes" of hair "coil so thickly." He sustains this snake association throughout Allecto's action in the poem. After Juno "whips her on with a challenge like a lash," Allecto uses one of the snakes from her hair to infect Amata with her Gorgon venom:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Allecto flings a snake from her black hair at the queen
and thrusts it down her breast, the very depths of her heart,
and the horror drives her mad to bring the whole house down.
It glides between her robes and her smooth breasts but she
feels nothing, no shudder of coils, senses nothing at all
as the viper breathes its fire through the frenzied queen.
The enormous snake becomes the gold choker around her throat,
the raveling end of a headband braiding through her hair,
writhing over her body.
Related Themes:
Book 9
Explanation and Analysis—Flowers and Death:
In Books 9 and 11, Virgil uses flower similes to describe the bodies of young men who are dying or have just died. These comparisons have a striking effect, given that flowers tend to be associated with spring and liveliness. Thus, these similes capture the interconnectedness of supposedly contrasting phenomena like life and death, war and peace, and winter and spring.
In the gripping scene in Book 9 in which Euryalus and Nisus are ambushed and killed by Latin soldiers during a nighttime raid, Virgil compares Euryalus's drooping neck to various flowers:
Unlock with LitCharts A+[...] He writhes in death
as blood flows over his shapely limbs, his neck droops,
sinking over a shoulder, limp as a crimson flower
cut off by a passing plow, that droops as it dies
or frail as poppies, their necks weary, bending
their heads when a sudden shower weighs them down.
Related Themes:
Book 10
Explanation and Analysis—Battle:
In Book 5, Virgil uses a number of nature similes to describe the various contests that Aeneas holds in honor of Anchises. In addition to evoking the strength and skill of the Trojans, these vibrant descriptions allow Virgil to flourish his poetic talent. Book 10, which features the first battle between the Trojans and the Latins, is similarly full of nature similes. In contrast to Book 5, however, the figurative language in this book evokes ferocity and violence. Rather than engaging in games in which everyone can be a winner, the Trojans now engage in full-scale war.
Related Themes:
Book 11
Explanation and Analysis—Flowers and Death:
In Books 9 and 11, Virgil uses flower similes to describe the bodies of young men who are dying or have just died. These comparisons have a striking effect, given that flowers tend to be associated with spring and liveliness. Thus, these similes capture the interconnectedness of supposedly contrasting phenomena like life and death, war and peace, and winter and spring.
In the gripping scene in Book 9 in which Euryalus and Nisus are ambushed and killed by Latin soldiers during a nighttime raid, Virgil compares Euryalus's drooping neck to various flowers:
Unlock with LitCharts A+[...] He writhes in death
as blood flows over his shapely limbs, his neck droops,
sinking over a shoulder, limp as a crimson flower
cut off by a passing plow, that droops as it dies
or frail as poppies, their necks weary, bending
their heads when a sudden shower weighs them down.
Related Themes:
Book 12
Explanation and Analysis—Lavinia:
As Latinus and Amata attempt to convince Turnus to surrender at the start of Book 12, the reader gets a rare glimpse at Lavinia. With a combination of imagery and simile, Virgil describes the character's pure, innocent beauty.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Aeneas vs. Turnus:
As the poem moves towards its climax in Book 12, Virgil uses multiple nature similes to describe the drawn-out hostilities between Aeneas, Turnus, and their respective forces. And when Turnus finally approaches defeat, Virgil also indicates this with a simile.
As Aeneas and Turnus approach each other, Virgil compares them to wildfires and rivers:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Like fires
loosed from adverse sides into woodlands dry as tinder,
thickets of rustling laurel, or foaming rivers hurling
down from a mountain ridge and roaring out to sea,
each leaves a path of destruction in its wake.
Just as furious now those two, Aeneas, Turnus
rampaging through the battle, now their fury
boils over inside them, now their warring hearts
at the breaking point—they don’t concede defeat—
and now they hack their wounding ways with all their force.
Related Themes:
