The Shield of Achilles

by W.H. Auden, Alan Jacobs (editor)

Back in print for the first time in decades, Auden’s National Book Award–winning poetry collection, in a critical edition that introduces it to a new generation of readers

The Shield of Achilles, which won the National Book Award in 1956, may well be W. H. Auden’s most important, intricately designed, and unified book of poetry. In addition to its famous title poem, which reimagines Achilles’s shield for the modern age, when war and heroism have changed beyond recognition, the book also includes two sequences—“Bucolics” and “Horae Canonicae”—that Auden believed to be among his most significant work. Featuring an authoritative text and an introduction and notes by Alan Jacobs, this volume brings Auden’s collection back into print for the first time in decades and offers the only critical edition of the work.

As Jacobs writes in the introduction, Auden’s collection “is the boldest and most intellectually assured work of his career, an achievement that has not been sufficiently acknowledged.” Describing the book’s formal qualities and careful structure, Jacobs shows why The Shield of Achilles should be seen as one of Auden’s most central poetic statements—a richly imaginative, beautifully envisioned account of what it means to live, as human beings do, simultaneously in nature and in history.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Fiction, Anthologies

Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1955

About the author

Poems, published in such collections as Look, Stranger! (1936) and The Shield of Achilles (1955), established importance of British-American writer and critic Wystan Hugh Auden in 20th-century literature.

In and near Birmingham, he developed in a professional middle-class family. He attended English independent schools and studied at Christ church, Oxford. From 1927, Auden and Christopher Isherwood maintained a lasting but intermittent sexual friendship despite briefer but more intense relations with other men. Auden passed a few months in Berlin in 1928 and 1929.

He then spent five years from 1930 to 1935, teaching in English schools and then traveled to Iceland and China for books about his journeys. People noted stylistic and technical achievement, engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and variety in tone, form and content. He came to wide attention at the age of 23 years in 1930 with his first book, Poems ; The Orators followed in 1932.

Three plays in collaboration with Christopher Isherwood in 1935 to 1938 built his reputation in a left-wing politics.

People best know this Anglo for love such as "Funeral Blues," for political and social themes, such as "September 1, 1939," for culture and psychology, such as The Age of Anxiety , and for religion, such as For the Time Being and "Horae Canonicae." In 1939, partly to escape a liberal reputation, Auden moved to the United States. Auden and Christopher Isherwood maintained a lasting but intermittent sexual friendship to 1939. In 1939, Auden fell in lust with Chester Kallman and regarded their relation as a marriage.

From 1941, Auden taught in universities. This relationship ended in 1941, when Chester Kallman refused to accept the faithful relation that Auden demanded, but the two maintained their friendship.

Auden taught in universities through 1945. His work, including the long For the Time Being and The Sea and the Mirror , in the 1940s focused on religious themes. He attained citizenship in 1946.

The title of his long The Age of Anxiety , a popular phrase, described the modern era; it won him the Pulitzer Prize in 1947. From 1947, he wintered in New York and summered in Ischia. From 1947, Auden and Chester Kallman lived in the same house or apartment in a non-sexual relation and often collaborated on opera libretti, such as The Rake's Progress for music of Igor Stravinsky until death of Auden.

Occasional visiting professorships followed in the 1950s. From 1956, he served as professor at Oxford. He wintered in New York and summered in Ischia through 1957. From 1958, he wintered usually in New York and summered in Kirchstetten, Austria.

He served as professor at Oxford to 1961; his popular lectures with students and faculty served as the basis of his prose The Dyer's Hand in 1962.

Auden, a prolific prose essayist, reviewed political, psychological and religious subjects, and worked at various times on documentary films, plays, and other forms of performance. Throughout his controversial and influential career, views on his work ranged from sharply dismissive, treating him as a lesser follower of William Butler Yeats and T.S. Eliot, to strongly affirmative, as claim of Joseph Brodsky of his "greatest mind of the twentieth century."

He wintered in Oxford in 1972/1973 and summered in Kirchstetten, Austria, until the end of his life.

After his death, films, broadcasts, and popular media enabled people to know and ton note much more widely "Funeral Blues," "Musée des Beaux Arts," "Refugee Blues," "The Unknown Citizen," and "September 1, 1939," t

Reviews

[roz_anthi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Αν και ο γλυκός ανέφελος καιρός
Χαμογελά ξανά στην κομητεία της καρδιάς σου
Και τα χρώματά της επιστρέφουν, η καταιγίδα σ' έχει αλλάξει·
Δε θα ξεχάσεις ποτέ
Που η σκοτεινιά έσβηνε την ελπίδα, η θύελλα
Προφήτευε την πτώση σου.

Πρέπει να ζήσεις με τη γνώση σου.
Πολύ πίσω, πέρα, έξω από σένα, υπάρχουν άλλοι,
Σε απουσίες ασέληνες που δεν έχεις ακουστά,
Αυτοί όμως έχουν σίγουρα ακουστά εσένα,
Υπάρξεις αγνώστου αριθμού και φύλου,
Και δε σε συμπαθούν.

Το διάβασα, το ξαναδιάβασα, το ξαναδιαβάζω, θα το διαβάζω.
Εισαγωγή, μετάφραση, σχόλια, μικρά πετράδια που προσθέτουν στη βαρύτητα των ποιημάτων του Ώντεν. Πολλές τρικυμίες σε μπουκαλάκια είναι η ποίηση κι εδώ τις νιώθεις να έρχονται από παντού.

[Οδυσσέας Μουζίλης · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ελεύθεροι πολιορκημένοι της πανδημίας, συνενωθείτε. Η ταν ή επί τας :p

https://pepperlines.blogspot.com/2020...

[How About Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

Αυτό που τον έκανε ποιητή ήταν εξωφρενική επιδεξιότητα του με τις λέξεις και η αγάπη του για αυτές.
Όμως αυτό που τον έκανε μεγάλο ποιητή ήταν ότι υπέκυψε αδιαμαρτύρητα στην «συμφορά» του να είσαι ευάλωτος στην «ανθρώπινη αποτυχία» σε όλα τα επίπεδα της ανθρώπινης ύπαρξης, να είσαι ευάλωτος στις φαύλες επιθυμίες, στις απιστίες της καρδιάς, στις αδικίες αυτού του κόσμου.
-Hannah Arendt για τον Auden

Πριν την σπουδαιότερη μάχη του, η μητέρα του, Νηρηίδα Θέτιδα, ζητά από τον Ήφαιστο, να ετοιμάσει σε μια νύχτα καινούρια όπλα για το γιο της, Αχιλλέα. Θώρακα, κράνος, κνημίδες και το σημαντικότερο, την ασπίδα.
Ο Ήφαιστος, στην Ασπίδα του Αχιλλέα και ο Όμηρος σε 136 στίχους «αναπλάθει τον κόσμο χύνοντας το φως των στίχων του στην ζωή των ανθρώπων, της πολιτείας και στη ζωή των ξωμάχων ....», σφυρηλατεί ότι συμβαίνει στην επίγεια ζωή, το σύνολο του κόσμου.

Ενώ ο Όμηρος, δημιουργεί μια ασπίδα με ευχάριστες σκηνές, ο Ώντεν, στη δίκη του Ασπίδα του Αχιλλέα, του μεσοπολέμου, δεν καταφέρνει να βρει ομορφιά να περιγράψει.
Αντί για το μεγαλείο της ειρήνης και της ομορφιάς, η μητέρα, αντικρίζει στην ασπίδα μόνο φρίκη, παραλογισμό, πόλεμο και ερήμωση, βία και μίσος. Δεν βρίσκει καμία ελπίδα, κανένα φως, καμία τέχνη ή ομορφιά, παρά ολοκληρωτισμό και άσκοπη βαρβαρότητα.

Η Ασπίδα του Αχιλλέα είναι ένα από τα Ποιήματα του περιέχει η ομότιτλη συλλογή.
Περιέχει τα ποιήματα στα ελληνικά και στα αγγλικά, μαζί με σχόλια για το καθένα, φωτογραφικό υλικό από τη ζωή του Auden και ένα υπέροχο εισαγωγικό σημείωμα από το μεταφραστή Ερρίκο Σοφρά που η δουλειά και οι σημειώσεις του είναι ειλικρινά αξιοθαύμαστες.

Οι στίχοι του Auden είναι απλοί και ταυτόχρονα βαθυστόχαστοι, τολμηροί, δραματικοί και πάνω από όλα ευαίσθητοι σε μια εποχή που η ευαισθησία απαιτούσε θάρρος και επαναστατικότητα. Η εποχή αυτή, είναι παντού παρούσα στα ποιήματα, μαζί με τη φρίκη που είχε βασιλέψει και απειλούσε το μέλλον.

Διάβασα πως ο Ώντεν θεωρείται ο ύπατος ποιότης της γενιάς του, η οποία ονομάζεται και «Γενιά του Ώντεν» και διαβάζοντας τα ποιήματα καταλαβαίνω απόλυτα το χαρακτηρισμό.
Από τα ομορφότερα αναγνώσματα και βιβλία που έπιασα στα χέρια μου 💙






ΑΥΤΟΣ ΠΟΥ ΠΙΟ ΠΟΛΥ ΑΓΑΠΑΕΙ
του Γ.Χ.ΩΝΤΕΝ
 
 
Κοιτάω τ'αστέρια ψηλά στον ουρανό
Και το ξέρω, δεν τα νοιάζει αν θα χαθώ.
Ποτέ μη σε φοβίζει η αδιαφορία
Από τον άνθρωπο ή τα θηρία.
 
Αν τ'άστρα δίχως ανταπόκριση από μας,
Όλο πάθος καίγονταν μεμιάς;
Αφού η αμοιβαία αγάπη δεν κρατάει,
Ας είμαι εγώ που πιο πολύ αγαπάει.
 
Των άστρων συλλογιέμαι, είμαι θαυμαστής
Που αδιαφορούν για μένα ότι κι αν πεις,
Μα τώρα που τα βλέπω ένα ένα
Μέσα στη μέρα δε μου'λειψε κανένα.
 
Αν τ'άστρα έσβυναν σ'έναν αφανισμό,
Θα μάθαινα να βλέπω ένα άδειο ουρανό
Να νιώθω το υπέροχο ψηλαφητό σκοτάδι
Και να το συνηθίζω κάθε βράδυ.
Σεπτέμβριος 1957

[Maria Bikaki · Rating 5 out of 5]

ΔΕ ΘΑ ΥΠΑΡΞΕΙ ΕΙΡΗΝΗ
Αν είναι ο γλυκός ανέφελος καιρός
Χαμογέλα ξανά στην κομητεία της καρδιάς σου
Και τα χρώματα της επιστρέφουν, η καταιγίδα σ’ έχει αλλάξει
Δε θα ξεχάσεις ποτέ
Που η σκοτεινιά έσβηνε την ελπίδα, η θύελλα
Προφήτευε την πτώση σου.
Πρέπει να ζήσεις με τη γνώση σου.
Πολύ πίσω, πέρα, έξω από σένα, υπάρχουν άλλοι,,
Σε απουσίες ασέληνες που δεν έχεις ακουστά,
Αυτοί όμως έχουν σίγουρα ακουστά εσένα,
Υπάρξεις αγνώστου αριθμού και φύλου,
Και δε σε συμπαθούν.
Μα τι τους έχεις κάνει;
Τίποτα; Το τίποτα δεν ειν’ απάντηση
Θα φτάσεις να πιστέψεις- γίνεται αλλιώς;
Πως ναι, ακηθινά , τους έχεις κάνει κάτι
Θα εύχεσαι να μπορούσες να τους κάνεις να γελάσουν,
Θα λαχταράς τη φιλία τους.
Δε θα υπάρξει ειρήνη.
Χτύπα και συ λοιπόν, με όσο θάρρος έχεις
Και μ’ όποιο κόλπο άτιμο κι αν ξέρεις.

[Lazaros Karavasilis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Πρώτη επαφή με τον Ώντεν και την ποίηση του, και κρατάω κάποιες θετικές εντυπώσεις απο το έργο του.
Πάντα μου ήταν δύσκολο να αξιολογήσω ποίηση. Πως αξιολογείς κάτι όμορφο που δεν μπορείς να καταλάβεις πλήρως;
Οπότε μένω στις εντυπώσεις και στο αν θέλω να συνεχίσω να διαβάζω το έργο του. Και η απάντηση είναι ναι.
Θα κλείσω αυτή την ψευδοκριτική με έναν απο τους όμορφους στίχους του:

Αργά, πολύ αργά μέσα στη νύχτα
Οι εραστές χάθηκαν στη σιωπή
Σταμάτησαν των ρολογιών οι χτύποι
Κι όλο κυλούσε το ποτάμι το βαθύ

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the most complete and sumptuously organised volume of Auden. This volume begins with a set of seven 'Bucolics', but they are not pastorals in the conservative sense. These Bucolics are concerned with the relation of man to in one particular mode. In the first lyric, the poet has described the Homeric Shield of Achilles with brilliance and beauty of the Greek world inscribed on it. This beauty of the Greek world is then contrasted with ugly shield of the modern world, on which is inscribed 'artificial wilderness' and 'a sky like lead'. One of Auden's significant war-poems, The Shield of Achilles uses an episode from Homer's ancient Greek epic Iliad to meditate on the violence and brutality of the modern world." Thetis the mother of Achilles looks over the "shoulder" of Hephaestos, the blacksmith who designed the shield of Achilles. While she expects to see beautiful Hellenic pictures engraved on the shield, Hephaestos shows her complete different scenes that appal her in a major way. In this sense the poem is a contrast between what Thetis expects to see and what Hephaestos actually embosses on the shield. But, actually Auden contrasts the heroic world of Achilles with the besmirched world of the mid-20th century and thereby establishes the superiority of the Achaean world over the world of totalitarian horror, Auden himself imagines.

[Sofia Silverchild · Rating 5 out of 5]

Εξαιρετική δίγλωσση έκδοση με πρόλογο, μετάφραση και σχολιασμό του Ερρίκου Σοφρά.


O Tell Me the Truth About Love

Some say love's a little boy,
And some say it's a bird,
Some say it makes the world go round,
And some say that's absurd,
And when I asked the man next door,
Who looked as if he knew,
His wife got very cross indeed,
And said it wouldn't do.

Does it look like a pair of pyjamas,
Or the ham in a temperance hotel?
Does its odour remind one of llamas,
Or has it a comforting smell?
Is it prickly to touch as a hedge is,
Or soft as eiderdown fluff?
Is it sharp or quite smooth at the edges?
O tell me the truth about love.

Our history books refer to it
In cryptic little notes,
It's quite a common topic on
The Transatlantic boats;
I've found the subject mentioned in
Accounts of suicides,
And even seen it scribbled on
The backs of railway guides.

Does it howl like a hungry Alsatian,
Or boom like a military band?
Could one give a first-rate imitation
On a saw or a Steinway Grand?
Is its singing at parties a riot?
Does it only like Classical stuff?
Will it stop when one wants to be quiet?
O tell me the truth about love.

I looked inside the summer-house;
It wasn't ever there;
I tried the Thames at Maidenhead,
And Brighton's bracing air,
I don't know what the blackbird sang,
Or what the tulip said;
But it wasn't in the chicken-run,
Or underneath the bed.

Can it pull extraordinary faces?
Is it usually sick on a swing?
Does it spend all its time at the races,
Or fiddling with pieces of string?
Has it views of its own about money?
Does it think Patriotism enough?
Are its stories vulgar but funny?
O tell me the truth about love.

When it comes, will it come without warning,
Just as I'm picking my nose?
Will it knock on my door in the morning,
Or tread in the bus on my toes?
Will it come like a change in the weather?
Will its greeting be courteous or rough?
Will it alter my life altogether?
O tell me the truth about love.

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

Auden writes poetry so that I reassess my connection to words. Good poetry, great poetry, should always be about trying to arrange words so that they assume a magnificent beauty in their form and a pressing significance in the stories and feelings they convey. W.H. Auden is a poet who always manages to write just three our four words together so that I have to stop and just feel the words and images that they have created, and The Shield of Achilles is just such an example.

Auden was not just a modernist poet purposefully using imagism create an aesthetic effect. Auden was a timeless poet trying to really touch the net core that is humanity, and The Shield of Achilles demonstrates this dedication to a craft. The book is divided into three sections which each possess their own themes and structures so that the reader is aware of three tones or strategies, and each of these strikes the reader in ways that are sure to puzzle, amaze, and entice the reader to dig deeper into the body of this craft.

In summation, this collection is an important reminder too the reader that Auden succeeds by achieving numerous, little victories that begin to coalesce into one cohesive whole. This collection is a real achievement by a real wordsmith who knows how important are the images and moments he offers. And those strings of little victories linger after this reading like the echoes of Gregorian Chants, or reverberating machine gun fire striking Athenian shields.

[Stefania · Rating 4 out of 5]

Were all stars to disappear or die
I should learn to look at an empty sky
And feel its total dark sublime,
Though this might take me a little time.

[Александра Зайцева · Rating 5 out of 5]

Она глядит, как он ладит щит,
Надеясь узреть на нем виноград,
И паруса на дикой волне,
И беломраморный мирный град,
Но на слепящий глаза металл
Его искусная длань нанесла
Просторы, выжженные дотла,
И небо, серое, как зола…
Погасшая земля, где ни воды,
Ни трав и ни намека на селенье,
Где не на чем присесть и нет еды,
И все же в этом сонном запустенье
Виднелись люди, смутные, как тени,
Строй из бессчетных башмаков и глаз
Пустых, пока не прозвучал приказ.
Безликий голос — свыше — утверждал,
Что цель была оправданно-законной,
Он цифры приводил и убеждал,
Жужжа над ухом мухой монотонной, —
Взбивая пыль, колонна за колонной
Пошла вперед, пьянея от тирад,
Оправдывавших путь в кромешный ад.

[Lillian]

"One baseball game is more / To them than fifty Troys" is straight fire tbh

favorites:
"Fleet Visit"
"The Shield of Achilles"
"The Truest Poetry Is the Most Feigning"
"A Sanguine Thought"
"Epitaph for the Unknown Soldier"

[Aaron]

Robert Frost makes poetry look so effortless I tell myself I could probably do that. Auden makes poetry look so daunting and effortful that I'm shocked anyone can do it.

[Rosa Jamali · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Unknown Citizen
W. H. Auden

He was married and added five children to the population,
Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his generation.
And our teachers report that he never interfered with their education.
Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd:
Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.

W.H.Auden's poem is full of irony. Unknown Citizen is the one who doesn't draw any attention and lives a normal life. After so many years of being at war, he describes the absurdity and the obscurity of war in such a witty, grotesque tone.

[michal k-c · Rating 5 out of 5]

a perfect collection — truly highlights how free poetry can feel when working under strict rhythmic and structural constraints. This critical edition specifically rocks, the intro is like a skeleton key to the work (best read after reading the collection itself imo)

[Juan Pablo Guatibonza · Rating 5 out of 5]

and where should an austere philologist
relax but in the very world of the shade
from which the matter of his field was made

[Katie B · Rating 5 out of 5]

God bless the Realm, God bless the People
God bless this green world temporal

[Drew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I came to this collection of W. H. Auden’s poetry through the title poem. I was so taken aback with its interspersing of a Homeric scene with a gritty, realistic view of our current times. I knew I had to get this collection. On the whole, I enjoyed it, though “The Shield of Achilles” and “Epitaph for the Unknown Soldier” are the only ones that really moved me.

The collection is broken up into three parts: “Bucolics”, “In Sunshine and in Shade” and “Horae Canonicae.” I didn’t enjoy the first section. It didn’t grab me, though there was nothing wrong with it. I was looking forward to the third section, as a riff off the liturgical hours. I was hoping for something that was soothing or even something that ran counter to the concept of the hours, critiquing the concept. I didn’t find it, but again, that’s just how it impacted me.

The second section was the best of the three and contained the two poems I mentioned above. The most impactful part of “The Shield of Achilles” was this stanza:

A ragged urchin aimless and alone
Loitered about that vacancy; a bird
Flew up to safety from his well-aimed stone:
That girls are raped, that two boys knife a third,
Were axioms to him, who’d never heard
Of any world where promises were kept
Or one could weep because another wept.

Simply put, wow. Published on its own in 1952 and as part of this collection in 1955, it was a profound comment on society. More than 70 years later, it still rings true and has much to teach us.

In “Epitaph for the Unknown Soldier,” Auden has another potent commentary, this time compressed into just one sentence split over two lines. Instantly, I thought about the wars our leaders have started.

To save your world you asked this man to die:
Would this man, could he see you now, ask why?

[Demetra Stavridou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Λοιπόν... Άριστη επιλογή από τους Αντίποδες να εκδώσουν Ώντεν. Αρκούντως αντιπροσωπευτική ανθολόγηση ποιημάτων από τον μεταφραστή. Πολύ κατατοπιστική και χρήσιμη η εισαγωγή καθώς και ο σχολιασμός των ποιημάτων στον μικρό αυτό τόμο, ειδικά για τον πρωτόπειρο αναγνώστη του Ώντεν. Αλλά... όσο αφορά στη μετάφραση, έχω ενστάσεις. Πολλές ενστάσεις. Κάποια - αρκετά- ποιήματα δεν κυλάνε καθόλου καλά στα ελληνικά, η απόδοση είναι ξύλινη και αγκυλωμένη στη φόρμα. Κάποια άλλα είναι μικρά διαμάντια. Θέλω να πιστεύω ότι θα δούμε βελτιωμένες εκδοχές των μεταφράσεων από τον ίδιο τον κύριο Σοφρά στο μέλλον. Άλλωστε η ποίηση του Ώντεν τον απασχολεί εδώ και πολλά χρόνια. Γενικότερα πάντως, ο παρών τόμος είναι μια καλή πρώτη γνωριμία με την ποίηση του τεράστιου αυτού ποιητή.

[Achilleas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Δύσκολη η ανάγνωση ποίησης σε άλλη -εκτός της μητρικής- γλώσσα, αγώνας κανονικός.

Ξεχώρισα στα αγγλικά τα: Shield of Achilles, Brussels in Winter, As I walked out one evening, και Oh tell me the truth about love.

Ξεχώρισα ως εξαιρετικά μεταφρασμένα τα: Η ασπίδα του Αχιλλέα και Βγήκα να περπατήσω ένα βράδυ.

Παρά το ό,τι η επιμέλεια και η αφοσίωση του μεταφραστή είναι εμφανείς (βλ. και τα πολύ αναλυτικά σχόλια), η φόρμα του Auden μάλλον δεν κάνει εύκολη τη μετάφραση που θα μεταφέρει το αίσθημα του πρωτοτύπου.

[ConLaBuyr · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Shield of Achilles is an intricately structured collection of poems with intertwining themes of history, nature, love, violence, and Christian faith, almost all of which would have gone over my head without the help of the long and helpful introduction. It's probably better than I'm giving it credit for, and I plan on reading it through again in the future.

[Alyssa · Rating 1 out of 5]

There were some really good pieces in here, but overall I don’t think that I’m a fan of his style. Plus, it was tricky to appreciate the third section on Christ.

[Nota · Rating 5 out of 5]

Εξαιρετικό

[Vasiliki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Η μετάφραση του Ερρίκου Σοφρά αγγίζει την τελειότητα.

[Brodie Fowler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Obsessed, an absolute joy to read this. Read for class.

[Natalie Park · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the reading challenge, I read this book of poems. My rating reflects not how good or bad the poems are but more my lukewarm affection for poems in general!

[D. Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I need to read this again.

[Winnie Thornton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this way too fast, like most of the books I read at NSA.

[Blair · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn't familiar with most of these poems beyond the title one. It's a different kind of side to a lot of the Auden greatest hits, but it's wonderful stuff. A really cohesive collection.