Birds sang above them and chattered like school children this sentence is an example of

A simile.

Explanation:

Smilies are exaggerative phrases used to describe things in greater details by comparing two unrelated (to a certain degree) things. They must use words such as "like" or "as" to show the connection is not literal. It is not a simile if there are no connection words, and instead the exaggerative nature is assumed and implied from the context clues. An example of a context clue could be the absurdity of a comparison.

d. pushing his plate away from the edge of the table idk what the other guy was trying to

in my opinion i think it was not excessive at all. the maids turned against the queen in his absence, how could he ever trust them again? if he let them go they would surely spread the news of the suitor's deaths, which is much too risky. as for the suitors, they were selfish, rude, and greedy. the god's had apparently marked them for death, meaning odysseus made their death come faster.