Auden based much of his poem on the iliad, yet changed many details to. Start your 48hour free trial to unlock this the english auden study guide and get instant access to the following analysis. Literary elements tone the tone of the poem is bitterness and poignant evoking a keen sense of sadness or regret. By forging in words its description of hephaestus forging the shield, the poet of the iliad also. Point of view the story is being told through 3rd person omniscient. Here herds of oxen march, erect and bold, rear high their horns, and seem to low in gold, and speed to meadows on whose sounding shores a rapid torrent. Forged by the god, hephaestus, who was a crippled smith, it depicts the two cities and the happenings within, as well as agamemnons kingly. October 2005 the construction of the shield of achilles is one of the most fascinating sections of the iliad. Government by consent, freely given and periodically capable of being withdrawn, is what legitimates the nationstate.
It portrays the story of the achaeans and their fight against the trojans in a microcosm of the larger story. The scene in the poem begins after patroclus loses achilles armor in his fatal duel with hector. The poem begins with an unknown woman looking over the shoulder of another man whose identity is also unknown and is only revealed to the readers in the last stanza of the woman. Achilles song i do not know more than the sea tells me i do not know more than the sea tells me the academy of american poets is the largest membershipbased nonprofit organization fostering an appreciation for contemporary poetry and supporting american poets. W h audens the shield of achilles, written in 1952, is also the title poem of the collection in which it was published in 1955. It is widely thought that the poet conceived the shield to be round for a con trary suggestion. The shield of achilles, which auden wrote three years later, presents a certain challenge. The shield of achilles within the iliad by oliver taplin i why is the shield of achilles, instrument of war in a poem of war, covered with scenes of delightful peace, of agriculture, festival, song, and dance. By 1953, his shield of achilles reflected the cold war authoritarian. The poem consists of nine stanzas total, four shorterlined octets and five longerlined septets. She was mother of achilles, the greatest of the greek heroes in the trojan war.
According to greek mythology, thetis was a seagoddess. But there on the shining shield his hands had set no dancingfloor but a weedchoked field. I believe the poem is notable, but im not sure that the article can do much more than acknowledge the poems existenceas far as i know, theres not much secondary literature on the shield of achilles. This content is significantly updated and expanded in my new book, reconstructing the shield of achilles, now available on. The shield of achilles is the shield that achilles uses in his fight with hector, famously described in a passage in book 18, lines 478608 of homers iliad. As a young man he was influenced by the poetry of thomas hardy and robert frost, as well as william blake, emily dickinson, gerard manley hopkins, and old english verse. The poem tells an alternate version of a scene from homers iliad in which the nymph thetis, mother of achilles, gazes upon the decorated shield the armorergod hephaestos has created to console her grieving son and protect him in battle. In book 18, the goddess thetis, the mother of achilles, asks the god hephaestos latinized as hephaestus to create a shield for son so he can triumph in the war against troy. The intricately detailed imagery on the shield has inspired many different interpretations of its significance, with no definitive answer. The iliad study guide books 1718, page 2 forging of achilles new armor helps set a tone of dramatic expectation in the poem. Audens the shield of achilles is a ninestanza poem that uses an episode from homers ancient greek epic iliad c. Becker discussed in his important 1995 analysis of the passage.
In book 18, the goddess thetis, the mother of achilles, asks the god hephaestos latinized as hephaestus to create a. The shield of achilles is the shield that achilles uses to fight hector, famously described in a passage in book 18, lines 478608 of homers iliad. Audio recordings of classic and contemporary poems read by poets and actors, delivered every day. Audens the shield of achilles is thematically quite similar to eliots wasteland in its representation of a world devoid of principles and ethics that in its march for success has lost the true meaning of life as echoed in phrases like an unintelligible. The shield of achilles is perhaps a unique book for it sets aside what has until recently been the conventional wisdom of those engaged in the study and practice of international relations what makes bobbitt different from most commentators, however, is that he is prepared to be prescriptive, to outline a strategy on which the generals and. Why is the shield of achilles, instrument of war in a poem of war, covered with scenes of delightful peace, of agriculture, festival, song, and dance. The shield of achilles plays a major part in the iliad. The shield of achilles first published in 1955, the shield of achilles is a response to the descriptive account in homers epic poem the iliad describing shield that achilles yields. The shield of achilles poem by wystan hugh auden poem hunter. The death of achilles and disappearance of his shield.
Recent poems have appeared or will be appearing in poetry, the new republic, raritan, prairie schooner, and other journals. And ships upon untamed seas, but there on the shining metal. She looked over his shoulder for vines and olive trees, marble wellgoverned cities and ships upon untamed seas, but there on the shining metal his hands had put instead an artificial wilderness and a sky like lead. The shield of achilles quotes showing of 3 now the fundamental constitutional problem of the long war has been answered.
They were joining in battle, fighting like living mortals and dragging away. Alan watts how to see through the game the secret to life happiness duration. Critical appreciation of shield of achilles free essays. Ekphrasis at the forge and the forging of ekphrasis. One is tempted to ask what the educated reader of poetry, who has perhaps not happened to read the iliad, far less translated passages from it into english iambic pentameter, will make of this poem. The shield of achilles by w h auden famous poems, famous. However, it also focuses on anxiety over the cold war and the accession of totalitarianism, particularly. When we combine this poem with the selected prose employed in this essay, then we get a. Auden, was an angloamerican poet, born in england, later an american citizen, and is regarded by many critics as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. She looked over his shoulder for vines and olive trees, marble wellgoverned cities and ships upon untamed seas, but there on the shining metal his. The counterplot of audens the shield of achilles jstor. Written in 1952, audens shield of achilles speaks to the horrors of the world wars, particularly world war ii.
The shield of achilles she looked over his shoulder she looked over his shoulder the academy of american poets is the largest membershipbased nonprofit organization fostering an appreciation for contemporary poetry and supporting american poets. The homeric description of the shield of achilles iliad 18. For vines and olive trees, marble wellgoverned cities. The shield of achilles she looked over his shoulder. The magnificence of the armors beauty seems to bespeak its equally magnificent strength.
She looked over his shoulder for vines and olive trees marble wellgoverned cities. The shield of achilles is audens one of greatest poems. One is tempted to ask what the educated reader of poetry, who has perhaps not happened to read the iliad, far less translated passages from it into english iambic pentameter, will make of this poem that hides the identities. Auden she looked over his shoulder for vines and olive trees, marble wellgoverned cities and ships upon untamed seas, but there on the shining metal his hands had put instead an artificial wilderness and a sky like lead.
When, in the final combat with achilles, hector engaged achilles it must have seemed to achilles that he was fighting against himself, in slaying hector, slaying himself. She looked over his shoulder the academy of american poets is the largest membershipbased nonprofit organization fostering an appreciation for contemporary poetry and supporting american poets. I shall try to approach an answer to this question by looking at the scenes on the shield in relation to the rest of homer, i. This is a poem called the shield of achilles which takes a theme from homer where you remember that the armourer, hephaestos, makes a shield for achilles at the request of his mother, thetis, and on which you see the whole world, from farming and various things going on. Auden forges the shield of achilles and first hephasestus makes a great and massive shield, blazoning wellwrought emblems all across its surface, raising a rim around it, glittering, tripleply with a silver shield strap run from edge to edge and five layers of metal to build the shield itself. Though modest about its potential impact on the world, there persists a didactic strain in his work, but it is moderated by the increasingly meditative, ironic, and conversational tone he adopted after the 1930s, a decade when he was a major spokesperson for the literary left. I shall try to approach an answer to this question by looking at the scenes on the shield in relation to. How convenient it is to ascribe such glorious handiwork to the hands of a god. Taking its cue from homers epic iliad, the analysis of the shield of achilles conjures an image of a meditative poem which seeks to draw a comment on how brutal and violent the world is. It is audens response to the detailed description, or ekphrasis, of the shield borne by the hero achilles in homer s epic poem the iliad. The poem consists of 4 10 line stanzas, mostly unrhymed but with regular patterns. I largely agree with beckers analysis and his conclusion that in the shield. Given thetis prophecy, that achilles own death would follow upon the heels of hectors, explains arieti, the appearance of. The shield of achilles this is a poem called the shield of achilles which takes a theme from homer where you remember that the armourer, hephaestos, makes a shield for achilles at the request of his mother, thetis, and on which you see the whole world, from farming and various things going on.
This article examines the passage anew, demonstrating not only its paradigmatic concern with the collaborative and competing resources of word and picture, but also its significance in forging ideas about ekphrasis in the ancient world. First published in 1953 and later included in the eponymous anthology the shield of achilles in 1955, the poem is constructed with alternating stanzas depicting the construction of achilles shield and a cruel, nameless war waged in modern times, with both strands of the poem ending in tragic fashion. Homers descriptions of the brooch or the shield of achilles. In the poem, achilles has lost his armour after lending it to his companion patroclus. The construction of the shield of achilles is one of the most fascinating sec tions of the iliad. From the beginning, ancient ekphrasis explored ways of combining word and image. That girls are raped, that two boys knife a third, were axioms to him, whod never heard of any world where promises were kept. Auden, in the poem, the shield of achilles, makes an imaginary description of what thetis noticed on the shield of her son. The tone displays the disappointment in society, in the poem and in audens society. The iliad, book xviii, the shield of achilles by homer poems. The poem published shortly after the end of world war ii. In the opening stanza of the poem, which can be read in full here, thetis, one of the sea deities, according to greek mythology, is shown looking over hephaestuss shoulder at the shield of achilles he is engraving images on. The shield of achilles by wh auden she looked over his shoulder for vines and olive trees, marble wellgoverned cities and ships upon untamed seas, but there on the shining metal his hands had put instead an artificial wilderness and a sky like lead. She expected he had engraved traditional images of ancient greece, such as vineyards, olive woods, marble places, peaceful cities, sailed ships.
The shield of achilles audio poem of the day poetry. A plain without a feature, bare and brown, no blade of grass, no sign of neighborhood. A ragged urchin, aimless and alone, loitered about that vacancy. The shield of achilles and the poetics of ekphrasis becker, andrew sprague on. Narration, description, and theme in the shield of achilles it is now generally agreed that iliad 18. The contents of the poem derive from homers iliad, an ancient epic poem concerning a key part of the trojan war. Jstor and the poetry foundation are collaborating to digitize, preserve, and extend access to poetry. Auden found yeats too histrionic, but his fine elegy for the irish. The eponymous shield features in book 18 of the homeric epic poem the iliad, in a passage which has become famous as an example of ekphrasis. Auden first published in 1952, and the title work of a collection of poems by auden, published in 1955. The shield of achilles and the poetics of ekphrasis. First published in 1952, the shield of achilles is audens response to the detailed description, or ekphrasis, in homers epic poem, the iliad of the shield borne by the hero achilles. The project gutenberg ebook of the iliad of homer by homer. Edward mendelson noted the poems favourable reception was down to its sturdy, unobjectionable sentiments against violence and war p 375.
267 154 1116 1206 1565 40 887 805 680 1305 92 866 297 692 467 1441 452 1380 405 1335 672 1264 802 512 824 1397 710 121 1208 764 757 891 291 325 527 109 1413