Quotes from book

The Shield of Achilles

“Out of the air a voice without a face
Proved by statistics that some cause was just
In tones as dry and level as the place:
No one was cheered and nothing was discussed…”

W. H. Auden book The Shield of Achilles

The Shield of Achilles (1952)

“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.”

W. H. Auden book The Shield of Achilles

The Shield of Achilles (1952)

“A crowd of ordinary decent folk
Watched from without and neither moved nor spoke
As three pale figures were led forth and bound
To three posts driven upright in the ground.”

W. H. Auden book The Shield of Achilles

The Shield of Achilles (1952)

“The thin-lipped armorer,
Hephaestos, hobbled away,
Thetis of the shining breasts
Cried out in dismay
At what the god had wrought
To please her son, the strong
Iron-hearted man-slaying Achilles
Who would not live long.”

W. H. Auden book The Shield of Achilles

The Shield of Achilles (1952)

“A million eyes, a million boots in line,
Without expression, waiting for a sign.”

W. H. Auden book The Shield of Achilles

The Shield of Achilles (1952)

“The mass and majesty of this world, all
That carries weight and always weighs the same
Lay in the hands of others; they were small
And could not hope for help and no help came:
What their foes like to do was done, their shame
Was all the worst could wish; they lost their pride
And died as men before their bodies died.”

W. H. Auden book The Shield of Achilles

The Shield of Achilles (1952)