The Triumph of Achilles

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1985

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Poem Analysis

Themes

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Literary Devices

Further Reading & Resources

Related Poems

The Iliad by Homer (circa 800 BCE)

This Greek narrative epic poem is the inspiration for “The Triumph of Achilles.” The most relevant sections are the Death of Patroclus (Books 16-18) and the Rage of Achilles (Books 19-24). Gluck also includes symbols from earlier in the poem, such as the catalog of Greek ships in Book 2.

“The Triumph of Fame” by Francesco Petrarch (1351)

This is a part of Petrarch’s Trionfi, or Triumphs. The triumphs that Petrarch writes about are processionals that began in ancient Rome. Victors would be pulled in horse-drawn carts, surrounded by people. The Triumph of Fame follows the Triumph of Death, to indicate that fame can allow one to live beyond death. Petrarch writes, “ Yet now my thoughts to foreign heroes turned: / To Hannibal, and then to Achilles, sung / In verse that gave to him immense renown” (Part II, Lines 7-9). Achilles’s renown means his name is known after he has died. Gluck’s poem reflects on the human part of Achilles dying, not his immortal fame. Petrarch including the Triumph of Time after the Triumph of Fame develops this point. Time can cause people to forget the names of famous heroes.

“The Shield of Achilles” by W. H. Auden (1955)

Like Gluck, Auden draws upon Homer’s Iliad for this poem. Like the ekphrastic section of the Greek epic, this poem is about the armor of Achilles. Gluck mentions the armor in Line 5 but does not include details about the shield. Rather, her focus is on how the armor causes Patroclus to be mistaken for Achilles. Auden’s poem is written about Thetis, the mother of Achilles, and contrasts the scene depicted on his shield with the Greek life that it symbolizes. “The Shield of Achilles” also includes more context for Gluck’s poem, such as the name of the armorer, the blacksmith-god Hephaestos.

Hyperion by John Keats (1820)

Like Auden and Gluck, Keats is inspired by Greek myth. Hyperion is an unfinished narrative epic that includes the lines:

She was a Goddess of the infant world;

By her in stature the tall Amazon

Had stood a pigmy’s height; she would have ta’en

Achilles by the hair and bent his neck.

This is a description of Thea, Hyperion’s sister. The allusion to Achilles is used to demonstrate her size and power.

Further Literary Resources

The Inferno by Dante Alighieri (1472)

Dante’s Inferno, as a work of humanism, combines Christian and Classical imagery. Dante includes elements and characters from Greek myth, such as the River Styx (which Thetis, Achilles’s mother, dips him in) and Achilles. Achilles is in the second circle of hell (Canto 5), which contains people who committed the sin of lust. He is listed alongside Helen and Paris, all major figures in the Trojan War, which was started because of Paris’s lustful abduction of Helen. Like Gluck’s focus on Achilles’s “part that loved” (Line 19), Dante asserts that Achilles “fought with love when at the end of life.” Dante’s placement of Achilles in the circle of hell where lust is punished has lent support to queer theory scholars who argue that Patroclus and Achilles were lovers.

Troilus and Criseyde by Geoffrey Chaucer (1385)

This courtly romance, written in Middle English, also deals with the matter of Troy. Achilles is referenced several times in Chaucer’s long narrative poem. For instance, Criseyde, a Greek, wishes she could have fallen in love with another Greek, like Achilles, rather than Troilus, who is a Trojan.

“Triumphant Achilles” by Franz von Matsch (1892)

This is a piece of visual art that shows Achilles in a horse-drawn cart pulling the corpse of Hector behind him. Hector killed Patroclus, and Achilles killed him to avenge the death of Patroclus. Matsch’s piece is a painted fresco in Greece, and reproductions of his painting can be found for sale online.

“The Ambivalence of Being in Gluck’s The Triumph of Achilles” by Caroline Malone (2012)

This is an essay from the anthology The Best American Poetry, edited by David Lehman. Malone offers literary analysis not only of Gluck’s poem “The Triumph of Achilles” but other selections from the book of the same title. The exploration of identity formation in this article offers more in-depth academic context for Gluck’s work, and it places the singular poem in the context of the book in which it appears.