The Shield of Achilles, which won the National Book Award in 1956, may well be W. H. Auden’s most important, intricately designed, and unified book of poetry. In addition to its famous title poem, which reimagines Achilles’s shield for the modern age, when war and heroism have changed beyond recognition, the book also includes two sequences—“Bucolics” and “Horae Canonicae”—that Auden believed to be among his most significant work. Featuring an authoritative text and an introduction and notes by Alan Jacobs, this volume brings Auden’s collection back into print for the first time in decades and offers the only critical edition of the work.
As Jacobs writes in the introduction, Auden’s collection “is the boldest and most intellectually assured work of his career, an achievement that has not been sufficiently acknowledged.” Describing the book’s formal qualities and careful structure, Jacobs shows why The Shield of Achilles should be seen as one of Auden’s most central poetic statements—a richly imaginative, beautifully envisioned account of what it means to live, as human beings do, simultaneously in nature and in history.
Alan Jacobs is Distinguished Professor of Humanities in the Honors Program at Baylor University. He is the author of many books, including How to Think: A Survival Guide for a World at Odds, and the editor of two other books by Auden, The Age of Anxiety: A Baroque Eclogue and For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio (both Princeton).
"Everywhere in the poems we see a master of English poetry, whose stature increases with each new work."—Karl Shapiro, New York Times Book Review
"[Auden] continues to treat his material with the incisive wit that is capable of serving the most serious ends. He is ceaselessly restless and inquisitive, inexhaustibly inventive, full of curious ancient and modern erudition, filled with strong likes and dislikes, and still profoundly involved with modern dilemmas."—Louise Bogan, The New Yorker
"Auden’s book of poems I think is among his best, and the poems which show brilliance are at a far distance above the writings of his imitators. . . . Since no one can paraphrase a poem, much less a book of poems, one can only say in prose what his latest book is like; to me it is very like a performance of Mozart’s and da Ponte’s Don Giovanni."—Horace Gregory, New York Herald Tribune
"There is not a poem in the book which does not give delight. . . . In middle age Auden still looks at mankind with the eye of a physician, but the prescription is a good deal less simplified than it used to be."—Anne Ridler, Manchester Guardian
"The poems here reflect Auden’s orientation toward the physical world, as he embraces the spiritual component of community with other living beings, human or otherwise."—Glen Young, Petoskey News
"“There’s pleasure and even some insights to be gained from experiencing The Shield of Achilles all by itself, a slim volume of poetry fighting for your attention at something approximating its own original bantam weight. “—Steve Donoghue, Open Letters Review"—Steve Donoghue, Open Letters Review
"[An] essential reissue. . . . Perceptively introduced by Jacobs featuring illuminating notes on historical context and Auden’s biography, as well as the poet’s own comments taken from letters and lectures, this volume is arguably the highlight of Auden’s writing during his years in the U.S. . . . This exquisite document of its century is irrefutable evidence of Auden’s skill and depth of insight."—Publishers Weekly starred review
"A splendid new edition . . . with an invaluable introduction and scholarly commentary."—Philip Jenkins, Christian Century
"The Shield of Achilles . . . is to be both roundly and loudly applauded."—David Marx, David Marx Book Reviews
"Edward Mendelson . . . is a model of thoughtful and fastidious scholarship; readers of this reissue will see his work threaded into this book’s taut and thoughtful notes. . . . Jacobs’ prose is scholarly, but accessible for a general reader. He gets to the heart of the poems quickly and does a superb job of pointing out connections between the poems in this volume."—A.M Juster, Public Discourse
