Question

Which answer choice provides the best analysis of the figurative language in lines 19–26 of selection 1, along with its purpose? Selection 1: from the Iliad
by Homer (translated by William Cowper)

1. Figurative Language: an epic simile comparing the Greek soldiers to a swarm of bees
Purpose: to highlight the Greeks' wisdom in practicing battle formations borrowed from nature


2. Figurative Language: an epic simile comparing the Greek soldiers to a swarm of bees
Purpose: to emphasize the number of Greek soldiers and the way they form crowds or break apart as they head toward the assembly


3. Figurative Language: personification comparing the swarm of bees to Greek soldiers
Purpose: to highlight the single-mindedness and dangerous power of both the troops and the swarming bees



4. Figurative Language: personification comparing the swarm of bees to Greek soldiers
Purpose: to suggest that Agamemnon and the other Greeks may have motivations as vicious as those of a swarm of bees

Answer 1

Choice 2.

Reason: the passage is an epic simile likening the Greek soldiers to a swarm of bees; the comparison stresses their great numbers and the way they mass together and then break and move as a crowd (the image conveys movement and scale). Choices 1, 3, and 4 misidentify the device or attribute purposes (1 wrongly reads a lesson in “wisdom,” 3 and 4 call it personification and infer motivations the simile does not primarily emphasize).