Homer is particularly fond of the pastoral pastime of stargazing, contrasting it with Achilles' warpath: "…as he swept across the flat land in full shining, like that star which comes on in the autumn and whose conspicuous brightness far outshines the stars that are numbered in the night's darkening."

He also contrasts the image of the brightest star with the image of Achilles' spear: "And as a star moves among stars in the night's darkening, Hesper, who is the fairest star who stands in the sky, such was the shining from the pointed spear Achilleus was shaking…"

With this contrast, Homer conveys a sense of dramatic irony in the final battle between the two heroes.

Irony through Allusion to Past Events

The similes which in Book 22 convey irony by placing Hector in the role as the hunted, in contrast to his role as the dominant warrior throughout most of...
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