The Triumph of Achilles

“The Triumph of Achilles“ was written by Louise Gluck and published in the collection by the same name in 1985. The Triumph of Achilles is her fourth book of poems and won the National Book Critics Circle Award for poetry. Her first book, Firstborn, was published in 1968, and she has written many books since The Triumph of Achilles.

“The Triumph of Achilles” is a free-verse poem inspired by Greek mythology, specifically Homer’s Iliad. Gluck explores the themes of The Nature of Grief and The Nature of Legends, as well as draws upon Homer’s symbols, such as Greek ships, Achilles’s armor, and Achilles’s tent.

Poet Biography

In April 1943, Louise Gluck was born in New York City. A few years later, her family relocated to a Jewish suburb in Long Island. Her father was an inventor who held many patents, and a businessman. Her mother, a housewife, was an excellent cook, according to Gluck. Her older sibling passed away, but Gluck was raised with a younger sister.

From a young age, Gluck enjoyed going to school and reading. She attended Sarah Lawrence College and studied poetry with Leonie Adams and Stanley Kunitz at Columbia University. At Goddard College, she attended a colloquium and was asked to come back and teach for a short period of time. Gluck also taught at MFA programs across the US, including University of California campuses, as well as programs in New York, Virginia, North Carolina, and Iowa City. She taught undergrad students at Williams College, as well as Yale, where she currently works as a writer-in-residence.

At 30, Gluck had a son, Noah, whom she raised as a single parent for a few years before marrying a man who was not her baby’s father. After 20 years, Gluck and her husband divorced.

Gluck has published 12 books of poetry. Her work has won many awards. Among these, her book The Wild Iris won the Pulitzer Prize; The Faithful and Virtuous Night won the National Book Award; and she won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2020. Gluck served as the 12th US Poet Laureate in 2003. She also published a novella in 2022 and has published collections of essays.

Poem Text

Gluck, Louise. “The Triumph of Achilles.” Reprinted in 2004 on Poem Hunter.

Summary

“The Triumph of Achilles” is a free-verse poem inspired by The Iliad by Homer with 20 lines of varying lengths. These lines are broken into five stanzas.

The first stanza describes the story of Achilles and Patroclus as a tragedy in which all of the characters die. Achilles is a god-like figure in Homer’s poem, but even he does not escape death. The speaker also points out that Achilles and Patroclus have similar physical appearances on the battlefield and share armor.

In the second stanza, the speaker pulls out from Homer’s specific Greek narrative poem to discuss interpersonal dynamics more generally. In relationships like the one between Achilles and Patroclus, there is always a power imbalance. One person has less power and is subservient to the other person. The two people are ranked in these terms. However, the speaker argues, the stories of these relationships may not be accurate because they are told by the person who survives and feels abandoned.

The third stanza compares the loss of one dear friend with the larger losses sustained by the Greek forces in the battle. Losing a loved one seems to be harder than losing many ships.

In the fourth stanza, the speaker focuses on Achilles after Patroclus’s death. Achilles feels the loss deeply, and the Greek gods witness his acts of mourning.

The fifth stanza is an extension of the fourth, continuing to describe what the gods witness. Achilles not only loses a loved one, but he also loses a part of himself. His love is what causes part of him to die when Patroclus dies. The speaker also describes the part of him that dies as a part of his humanity, or his mortal nature.