And he took the wand wherewith he lulls to sleep the eyes of whom he will, while others again he awakens even out of slumber. And as when a strong wind tosses a heap of straw that is dry, and some it scatters here, some there, even so the wave scattered the long timbers of the raft. Then he fenced in the whole from stem to stern with willow withes to be a defence against the wave, and strewed much brush thereon. Homers epic poem The Odyssey follows Odysseus on his long journey home. These similes allow Homer to describe his version of the classic tale while painting vivid imagery in the audiences head. The cyclops is literally and figuratively hurt.