epic simile

epic simile, an extended simile elaborated in such detail or at such length as to eclipse temporarily the main action of a narrative work, forming a decorative digression. Usually it compares one complex action (rather than a simple quality or thing) with another: for example, the approach of an army with the onset of storm‐clouds. Sometimes called a Homeric simile after its frequent use in Homer's epic poems, it was also used by Virgil, Milton, and others in their literary epics.