Thetis’s voice (Auditory Imagery, p. 53)
When Patroclus first meets Thetis, he is surprised by the sound of her voice, which is raspy and hoarse. “I had expected chimes, not the grinding of rocks in the surf.” In this example of auditory imagery, Miller grounds Thetis’s sea-nymph nature by comparing her voice to a dangerous aspect of her territory, as well as contrasting against the clichéd “chimes” Patroclus expects from a goddess.
The smell of the ocean (Olfactory Imagery, p. 67)
When Thetis sends Achilles to be trained on Mount Pelion, Patroclus tries to get some fresh air, only to be surrounded by the smell of the sea (Thetis’s domain). “It was everywhere, in my hair, in my clothes, in the sticky damp of my skin… the unwholesome salty decay still found me.” Miller uses olfactory imagery to highlight Patroclus’s nausea at having lost Achilles, connecting it to Thetis; instead of being refreshing, the smell of the sea is one of pervasive decay and loss.
Touching Achilles (Haptic Imagery, p. 100)
The first time Patroclus and Achilles make love is ripe with haptic imagery. Patroclus describes Achilles’ skin as “soft as the delicate velvet of petals,” a nature simile in line with his interest in botany and the beauty of the natural world. When Achilles touches him, it is “as though smoothing finest cloth”—a more worldly comparison, but similarly evocative of the care the young men have for each other.
Greeks and Trojans on the battlefield (Visual Imagery, p. 238)
When Patroclus tries to look at his first battlefield as a whole, the imagery he uses creates a sensation of seasickness: “I staggered dizzily to my feet; the plain seemed to slew and pound like surf before me.” The motion is overwhelming, and the comparison to the ocean draws attention to the danger and unpredictability of battle.
