The Triumph of Achilles

Drawing upon Homer’s Iliad, Gluck includes the symbolic Greek (Achaean) ships. There is a long catalog, or list, of ships in Homer’s poem. These ships symbolize the potential to return home after the Trojan War. When staying in his tent, Achilles promises to help the Greeks only if the Greek ships are threatened. When the Trojans successfully attack the Greek navy, Achilles has already lent his armor to Patroclus and is unable to assist either his friend or the army as a whole.

The speaker compares the burning of the Greek ships with the death of Patroclus, using a rhetorical question to argue that the loss of a loved one is more significant to Achilles than the loss of the ability to return home. In other words, this symbol is used to illustrate how Achilles’s loss of Patroclus is a loss of a more important part of himself than the part that identifies as Greek. The love of an individual is more powerful than the love of a nation or national identity.

Again, drawing upon symbolism in The Iliad, Gluck mentions how Patroclus wears “the same armor” (Line 5) as Achilles. The shield of Achilles is an early example of ekphrasis, or poetry about art.