Thetis and the Shield of Achilles — Reading the Iliad with Auden

Abstract

W.H. Auden’s poem ‘The Shield of Achilles’ which first appeared in print in 1952 has been variously interpreted according to its multiple layers of meaning. The poem rewrites Hephaestus’ making of the shield for Achilles in Homer’s Iliad book 18 by placing Thetis centre stage as the witness to the process. Auden seems to challenge us not only as to how to read his poem, but also as to how to read the shield of Achilles in the Iliad and the Iliad as a whole. Rereading the Homeric shield of Achilles along with Auden’s poem, this contribution shows that the Iliadic shield reflects more of the story of Thetis and Achilles than previously thought and that Auden’s shield of Achilles appears to echo many negative elements of the Iliad, suggesting that war was no more or less inhuman in Homer’s time than it is today. However, it also argues that, by using Homeric epithets that Achilles shares with Hector or with Priam, Auden’s poem subtly hints at the episode of Achilles and Priam as the symbol of human capacity for sympathy and reconciliation.