To what extent do you regard Essay Example for Free

To what extent do you find EssayAt first glance Audens song the Shield of Achilles appears to be focused on the unadulterated world. The poems Graeco-Roman nature is first indicated by the title- Achilles was of course a famous Greek hero, and throughout the poem there ar further genuine references, slicey of which Auden has taken from Book XVIII of Homers Iliad- Marble well-governed cities (l. 3), athletes at their games (l. 46), Hephaestos, hobbled out (l. 61). However, the poem also combines these classical details with the contemporary world- Proved by statistics (l. 17), Barbed telegram enclosed an arbitrary spot (l.31). Although there is this unusual combination of classical and modern, the poem can be seen as timeless Column by column in a cloud of dust They marched away stable a belief Whose logic brought them, somewhere else, to brokenheartedness. (The Shield of Achilles ll. 21-23) Here the army who are enduring a belief (l. 21) that they are doing good can be as easily applicable to the modern day (i. e. the situation in Iraq) as to classical times. The timeless nature of the poem can be said to be a characteristic feature as it appears in other poems such as Gare du Midi clutching a little case.He walks out briskly to infect a city Whose frightful future may have just arrived. (Gare Du Midi, ll. 6-8) Here we are led to believe that a man is about to unleash a terrible weapon on a city and although the poem was write in December 1938, its proleptic nature completelyows the poem to be much more in tune with the worlds largess fears1. The timelessness nature of Audens poems can peradventure be explained by his underlining of the cyclical nature of charitable history. Auden implies in The Shield Of Achilles that although the context of war may change through history, the content doesnt war is frequently chimericalWhere logic brought them, somewhere else, to grief. (The Shield of Achilles, l. 22) Audens use of occasional modern day diction (statistics, l. 17) allows us to consume that he is also referring to modern day situations. Thus Auden is also implying that humans dont ever learn leap their mistakes we continue to go to war. Auden also refers to this cyclical nature in September 1, 1939 Exiled Thucydides knew The habit-forming pain, Mismanagement and grief We must suffer them all again (September 1, 1939, ll. 23-33)Here Auden is talking of the Athenian philosopher and historian Thucydides who is again underlining that human history will keep repeating because humans do not seem to learn from it For the endow stalk abroad Like the past and its wronged again Whimper and are ignored (A Walk later Dark, ll. 31-33) those who whimper continue to be ignored by those in power and so mistakes continue to be made. Similarly in The Shield Of Achilles, the strong iron-hearted man-slaying Achilles (ll. 65-6) is seen as a great hero in classical times because of his warrior status.However, in todays world the general perception of Achilles would be exceedingly different as violent, warrior-like attitudes to problems are increasingly condemned by todays society the response to a well-aimed rock (l. 55) shouldnt be to throw a stone back. It is this kind of moral vacancy(l. 54) that leads warriors to wreak destruction upon society. Consequently it was historys mistake to celebrate warriors and Auden is implying that we shouldnt continue to idealise them because they are bearers of havoc and do not live long (l. 67), and equally dont allow others to live long either.The rail line between fantasy and reality is shown in The Shield of Achilles when Thetis, Achilles mother, looks into the shield But there on the give off metal She saw by his flickering forge-light Quite another scene. (ll. 27-30) Thetis has fantasised about finding a rural idyll in the Shield, but what she actually discovers are scenes of horror- a weed-choked field (l. 52). Just as in moon Landing, an occasional poem wri tten to mark the landing of Apollo 11 in 1969, the moon about itself has been idealised as an amazing, perfect place- worth going to see? I can well believe it (Moon Landing, l.21).The moon was very much something that many fantasized about visiting. But when the moon is actually seen on the television all the fantasies are shattered because it is no longer a mysterious, idyllic place- Worth seeing? Mneh (Moon Landing, l. 22)- it has become besmirched by mans presence. It is clear from Audens poetry that he mistrusts idealistic dreams like those sought by Thetis, for example in Epitaph on a Tyrant, Auden criticises the ideal of apotheosis Perfection, of a kind, was what he was aft(prenominal), And when he cried the little children died on the streets.(Epitaph on a Tyrant, ll. 1-6) The poem is referring to a dictator whose ideas of perfection, which cause children to die on the streets, are another mans nightmares, thus perfection should not always be strove for. Although like ma ny of Audens poems The Shield Of Achilles is characteristic in certain features, it is perhaps impossible to outline a characteristic Auden poem. The Shield of Achilles lacks many features that would make it characteristic. For example, poems such as Moon Landing and a Walk After Dark are rife with colloquial (Mneh- Moon Landing, ll.22) and recherchi (Lacrimae rerum- A Walk After Dark, l. 30) language, whereas The Shield of Achilles has none, instead the language in the poem obeys the poems principle of contrast- it alternates between classical and modern language. Therefore its reasonable to say that there are many re-occurring themes throughout Audens poems, but not that there are entire poems which are characteristic. 1 It is notable that Ist September 1939 appeared on many websites after the September 11th attacks in 2001.