7 quotes
To save your world you asked this man to die;
Would this man, could he see you now, ask why?
The Shield of Achilles (1955)
A million eyes, a million boots in line,
Without expression, waiting for a sign.
The Shield of Achilles (1955)
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.
The Shield of Achilles (1955)
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.
The Shield of Achilles (1955)
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.
The Shield of Achilles (1955)
This great society is going to smash;
They cannot fool us with how fast they go,
How much they cost each other and the gods.
A culture is no better than its woods.
The Shield of Achilles (1955)
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.
The Shield of Achilles (1955)