Ekphrasis In Auden's Poetry: A Work Of Art

The Iliad portrays Greek culture’s appreciation of hard labor and agriculture. This can be seen on the Shield of Achilles whose layers show a collection of the portrayal of Greek culture. A plethora of images portray Greek society’s dedication to hard work and agriculture. On the shield there are various depictions. Examples of such depictions are as follows: On one, men,

The Trojan men’s kelios (honor and reputation) would be highly boosted if they were the one to slay great Achilles, dear to Zeus. Despite knowing that the armor would put a bullseye on his head, Patroclus implores Achilles to give Achilles’ fine armor as Patroclus cares more about the greater picture of the war rather than his own selfish desires. Welding Achilles’ armor, Patroclus successfully repels the wave of Trojan warriors back to the trenches of Troy.

Literature and poetry are a reflection of society. The words are reflected in numerous feelings that we can almost touch and can be deeply felt in its reach. Most poets expressed their perception and emotion through their writings. Unfortunately the art and poetry describes one of the worst things that human can do to one another. The legalized murder called "war." Hence, this type of self-reflection called "poetry" has help create new fundamental ideas and values towards our society. In this essay, I will discuss the issue of the "War Poetry" during the "Great War" along with comparing and contrasting two talented renowned poets; Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) and Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967).

And there were young men on it and young girls, sought for their beauty with gifts of oxen, dancing, and holding hands at the wrist” (Il., 18.590-594). In fact, the majority of the shield depicts common Greek life; this being a quality that distinguishes Achilles’ shield from those of other famous warriors and heroes. Epics and their heroes usually involve gods and god-like feats, which are still true in the Iliad, yet the engravings on this shield are an oxymoron of that style. Edwards best describes this in stating, “Like an enormous simile, the scenes on the shield hold the narrative still for a while as we gaze at them; and the content is like that of a simile, too – it is the ordinary life of mankind that we observe, not that of heroes or gods” (278).

The text proceeds from analyzing each poem individually, and later draws parallels between the two. It tries to answer the questions whether the poems are a call to social irresponsibility, and if the object of the poem, the common man should be scorned or pitied. That the common man who is busy conforming to the norms of the state and the society has lost connection with his natural surroundings evokes sympathy for him. Materialism has subsumed his capacity to think to an extent that he cannot even decide whether he is free to do as he wishes – can he say no to enlisting for war? Or can he hold an opinion that did not coincide with the larger public?

One of the major themes present in lines 295-332 in Book VI of The Aeneid is human suffering. In this book, Aeneas travels to Dis in order

The two poems “Waiting for Icarus” and “Musée des Beaux Arts” are narrative poems. “Musée des Beaux Arts” is a poem written by W. H. Auden and published in 1938. “Waiting for Icarus” is a poem written by Muriel Rukeyser and published in 1973. The poem “Musée des Beaux Arts” is about how no one truly cares when a tragedy is taking place, unless said tragedy concerns them directly. The poem “Waiting for Icarus” tells the story about a woman who is reminiscing being abandoned by her lover while waiting for him at the beach. The two poems have a great deal of similarities and differences between them. Despite the fact that “Musée des Beaux Arts” uses an indifferent tone and irregular rhyme scheme and “Waiting for Icarus” uses a melancholic tone and no discernible rhyme scheme, both poems use the themes of abandonment and suffering and the myth of Icarus in order to convey to their readers how people deal with pain and misery.

n the introduction of the poem the writer mentions that the poem is meant to relate to the speakers experience with encountering nature. With much thought into this idea, could you not say that you could relate this poem to the experience of the way society is changing today. In our lives we get use to certain people that we could never "unnoticed" them, but there are a couple of others that we may not even bother with or notice they are there. In the first stanza they question the appearance of the fellow and in reality that may be them questioning the appearance of some people in their lives.

In the essay I am going to compare and contrast the way in which different attitudes to war are presented in the poems ‘Dulce et Decorum est’. And ‘Vitai Lampada’. Both poem are a bout war but they are wrote in completely different ways.

The aristeia is supposed to be depiction of a hero's finest moment. Typically before these moments we see that our hero has an arming scene to get ready for the battle that is to ansue. The reason for these scenes are to depict the importance of the battle; the longer the scene the more important the battle. A hero's gear is also a major part of himself and his honor as it was common to try to take the armor off a slayed warrior who was viewed as a worthy man. We see this throughout the epic as people fight to protect of overtake the bodies of fallen champions. Before Achilles aristeia we Hephaestus fashion him near armor, since his was lost during patroclus death. It is here we get an very descriptive imagery of just the shield.

The Iliad tells many great mystical tales while also containing pieces of history. One of the greatest wars documented in the Iliad is between the Trojans and the massive Mycenaean kingdom. The greatest warrior remembered from that battle who ultimately won the battle for the Mycenaeans is Achilles, known for his magnificent ability to take lives and conquer kingdoms. Most know him for his great swordsmanship and his god like art of battle(Patterson, May 4th); although, his shield is the most significant piece of equipment from that battle for Troy that he fought against Princes Hector. It was not the sword that ended Hector’s life, but the shield that Achilles used in battle due to the mass amount of symbolic value it holds. As well as how beautiful Homer describes the shield to be. It had to be a glorious piece of armor because it was said to be crafted by a god Hephaestus (History.com Staff, 2011).

There is, also, a thought wherein the importance of the Shield's image is merely a meandering act of poetic prowess by Homer. That the Poet's stream of thought brought it about, as much of an aesthetic wonder as a relief from the intensity of the battle scenes. This mode of thought was described by Oliver Taplin in his essay The Shield of Achilles Within the Iliad that takes an in depth attempt to discover the meaning of the Shield. During his explanation of the Shield he states this idea, as best understood by him when he wrote "the explanation which is, I suspect, most in keeping with the dominant school of what might be called `primitive oral poetics', namely that the oral poet has simply wandered on from

The armor of a hero plays an important role in catalyzing his heroism. It served as an object of strength, virility, and masculinity. The armor of Achilles was according to the Greeks suggested a new crucial role in the hero 's 'social reintegration ' after Hektor stripped Patroklos of Achilles ' old armor, the hero undergoes what this critic describes as "a rebirth into

For instance, Homer’s description of white alley contrasts with the earlier description of an ox, naturally dark in colour. This emphasizes the difference between Achilles and other Achaeans. Most soldiers in The Iliad subscribe to the heroic code and want personal glory at any cost. Yet, Achilles does not conform to the heroic code, as seen by his original refusal to fight in the war in Book 9. The words “shields and corpses” (20.564) placed beside each other also create a contrast between the battle’s victors and its fallen soldiers. This emphasizes Achilles’ agility in combat compared to other soldiers’ inability to survive the battle. Oxen are domestic, agricultural animals, while stallions are animals used in warfare. Homer includes both animals in this passage - oxen as a simile for Achilles and the stallions as his companions. Achilles is unlike other warriors in his indifference toward the heroic code. The oxen represent this difference as they are domestic animals unconcerned with glory, compared to animals used in battle like stallions. This passage also describes Achilles as an ox to emphasize his ox-like strength and persistence. Despite his rejection of the heroic code, he is still an accomplished and powerful warrior. The imagery used in this passage emphasizes the distinction between Achilles and the poem’s other characters. The Homeric simile also draws attention to Achilles’ rage. Earlier in this passage, Homer describes Achilles

In the second stanza, the speaker beholds a piper joyfully playing under the tress for his lover to find him with song. “Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on; not to the sensual ear, but, more endeared. The use of imagery of the senses is effective here. For I consider poetry to be more musical in nature than literary text. The speaker claims to be hearing melodies emanating from the urn, which for me the sound transmission from the urn correlates to the finite aspects of fleeting love. While the nature of art of the urn seems to me to represent the exquisiteness and infinity of the universe. Indeed, the sounds of silence from art is akin to vastness of space and time. “She cannot fade, though, thou hast not thy bliss,” (line19). Keats is asking the readers to not grieve for him. Because, her beauty will not diminish over time it is everlasting.