Treatment of Classical Myths by the Modernist Poets: W. H. Auden’s the Shield of Achilles
[Abstract: The pivotal figures of paleo-modernism in English poetry have consistently expressed a profound fervor for the classical mythic world- a world that is deeply real and vivid to them. The appeal of mythic world to these poets is profound and they have sought poetic inspiration from here. Naturally, the subject of myths is predominantly present in the poetry of the modernists. The aim of this research is to show W. H. Auden’s treatment of classical myths in “The Shield of Achilles” in relation to other modernist poems. Bearing it in mind, we have focused on the mythic characters especially Thetis, her warrior son Achilles and the master blacksmith Hephaestus, and their role and function attributed by Auden in the context of the 20th century. This inquisitive study will show the multidimensional functions of Auden’s exploitation of Greek myths to exhibit several of modern themes/issues- the sense of foiled expectations, the dispassionate side of modern art, the connection (or tension) between past and present, the dire need of a spiritual and moral life for modernists.]
Myths and fantasies are dearest to the poets, especially to the ones of the school of modernism. T. S. Eliot, W.B. Yeats and W.H. Auden are no exception to it. The modernists have, among other things, lost the sense of possession. They have lost all meanings in life. Futility, emptiness and nothingness can best describe their poetical world. They have been uprooted from their culture and tradition. But, life, if it is to be lived, can never rest on ‘nothing’. Really, culture and tradition make human life worth living and myth is one of the dominant manifestations of culture. In this writing we will attempt to examine how the modernist poet W. H. Auden exploits Greek myths to his purpose of delineating a modern world, and to do so we have chosen his one of the most anthologized poems “The Shield of Achilles.” In “The Shield of Achilles” we encounter two worlds: the classical
Myths and fantasies are dearest to the poets, especially to the ones of the school of modernism. T. S. Eliot, W.B. Yeats and W.H. Auden are no exception to it. The modernists have, among other things, lost the sense of possession. They have lost all meanings in life. Futility, emptiness and nothingness can best describe their poetical world. They have been uprooted from their culture and tradition. But, life, if it is to be lived, can never rest on ‘nothing’. Really, culture and tradition make human life worth living and myth is one of the dominant manifestations of culture. In this writing we will attempt to examine how the modernist poet W. H. Auden exploits Greek myths to his purpose of delineating a modern world, and to do so we have chosen his one of the most anthologized poems “The Shield of Achilles.” In “The Shield of Achilles” we encounter two worlds: the classical