Homeric Simile In Paradise Lost An epic simile, also known as a Homeric simile, is defined as a simile where A is compared to B, then B is described in such detail that it becomes a digression. John Milton employed this device several times throughout Paradise Lost. The first two books of Paradise Lost are justly celebrated; they also contain almost all the epic conventions that Milton used in the poem. The proposition that Milton’s verse-texture is fundamentally unmetaphorical -- far less figurative in Paradise Lost, indeed, than his ordinary prose style -- will be quickly dismissed by those who re