The Shield of Achilles

It is Auden's response to the detailed description, or ekphrasis, of the shield borne by the hero Achilles in Homer's epic poem the Iliad.

The stanzas with longer lines describe the scenes of a barren and impersonal modern world that Hephaestus creates in Auden's version.

In the second scene, a crowd of ordinary people watch passively as three "pale figures" are dragged towards and tied to posts.

In the third scene, a "ragged urchin" throws a stone at a bird; he takes it for granted "that girls are raped, that two boys knife a third," and "has never heard of any world where promises are kept / Or one could weep because another wept."

In the closing stanza, composed of short lines, Thetis cries out in dismay at what Hephaestus has made for her son, "who would not live long."