Shield Of Achilles

The Shield of Achilles Date: 1955 Author: W. H. Auden From: The Facts On File go with to American Poetry, vol. 2.  W. H. Audens meditation on the reprehensible, warlike nature of the forward-looking world, The Shield of Achilles is based on bell ringers account in the Iliad of the classical god Hephaestoss construction for Achilles of a movement of armor whose rich design and decorations retell the recital of the world. Written in jump seven-line stanzas ofrime royal (rhymed ABABBCC) and eight-line stanzas rec entirelying the ballad stanza (ABCBDEFE), the poem operates on a serial publication of contrasts. The main character, Thetis, watches Hephaestoss labors, and Auden creates an ironic conflict in the midst of her expectations of beautiful scenes and the images Hephaestos renders instead, of purple Rome and of the modern worlds sedulousness and impersonality. This discrepancy shows the distance between the myth of history and its uncivilized reali ty; moreover, Auden suggests, the notion of get up itself is a myth, since the savage past is scarcely distinguishable from the brutal present. The poem and then exemplifies Audens vision of poetry as a powerful mien to disenchant and disintoxicate the reader (Dyers, 27), freeing maven from the myths and fictions of history that, for all their beauty, often serve to compound or conceal tender misery.

In book XVIII of the Iliad, Homer writes of how the goddess Thetis, mother of Achilles, the superior of Greek warriors, petitioned the god Hephaestos to forge him a new suit of armor to replace the one barre n by the fifth column leader Hector from th! e body of Achilless kill friend, Patroclus. In describing the flowery design that Hephaestos works into the armor, Homer relates a world history that encompasses all the ages of man, and by connecting art, history, and war, Homer makes heroical poetry a means of exploring the richness of human gardening by means of a narrative of war. In this lyric poem, Auden alludes to the Homeric narrative through Thetiss initial expectation...If you want to get a full essay, read it on our website: OrderCustomPaper.com

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