Literary Device: Foreshadowing

 You probably already know about the literary device called foreshadowing, using hints or clues about the future story in an earlier section.   This paragraph tells about foreshadowing in relation to the Iliad.

Homer often gives his audience hints about what is going to happen later in the story. This technique is called foreshadowing and conveys a sense of the inevitability of important events. An example of foreshadowing occurs in book 6 when Hektor leaves Andromache to return to battle while her handmaidens mourn for him as if he were already dead (500-502). Note also Hektor's pessimism which he expresses to Andromache (447-465). This foreshadowing prepares us for Hektor's death in book 22. Achilleus's approaching death (which does not occur in the Iliad) is also foreshadowed as early as book 1 by himself and his mother (352; 416).

The above examples are only the most obvious instances of foreshadowing in the Iliad. Try to find other more subtle instances of anticipation of future

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