The Odyssey: Imagery 2 key examples

After defending Odysseus at an assembly of the gods, Athena dons her winged sandals and travels to Ithaca, where Odysseus's family has long awaited his return. When she arrives in Ithaca, she disguises herself as an old man, and the poem uses sharp imagery and a simile that describes her as being "like a stranger" to the whole world: 

She seized the rugged spear tipped with a bronze point —
 weighted, heavy, the massive shaft she wields to break the lines 
of heroes the mighty Father’s daughter storms against. 
 And down she swept from Olympus’ craggy peaks 
and lit on Ithaca, standing tall at Odysseus’ gates, 
the threshold of his court. Gripping her bronze spear, 
she looked for all the world like a stranger now. 

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The poem uses rich imagery when describing the island of Calypso from the perspective of Hermes, who has come to the island to order the release of Odysseus on behalf of the council of gods:  

A great fire 
blazed on the hearth and the smell of cedar 
cleanly split and sweetwood burning bright 
wafted a cloud of fragrance down the island.
Deep inside she sang, the goddess Calypso, 
lifting her breathtaking voice as she glided back and forth 
before her loom, her golden shuttle weaving. 
Thick, luxuriant woods grew round the cave, 
alders and black poplars, pungent cypress too [...]
And round the mouth of the cavern trailed a vine 
laden with clusters, bursting with ripe grapes. 
Four springs in a row, bubbling clear and cold. 

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