Political events, situations, ideals and acts can have a significant impact on individual lives and society more broadly. Composers who have been affected by their contextual political paradigm construct politically-motivated texts. W.H was a poet with a particular worldview, shaped by his interest in Marxism and psychology, which is evident in his poetry, particularly his politically focused poems. He created his poetry as a result of the social and political atmospheres of his time and challenged the public’s acceptance of global political acts. His poem “The Shield of Achilles” presents a didactic message of the …show more content…
The contrast between what Thetis desires to see, “She looked over his shoulder for vines and olive trees”, and what is the reality, “An artificial wilderness and a sky like lead”, is exemplary of his understanding of the social atmosphere during war and tension during the Cold War. The literary allusion of the ancient Greek myth “Achilles and Thetis” from Homer’s Iliad resonates with a wide audience and is used to highlight the continuity of war through …show more content…
Her metaphor of describing the Republic as a “secret walled-in garden, a place lost in time” underlines the absolute secrecy and the retrogressive ideologies which were espoused by the GDR within the confines of the Eastern side of the Berlin wall. Funder’s detailed description in her anecdotes of the torture practises performed by the Stasi officers, “They pushed her head under for a long time, then dragged her up by the hair”, and the impact upon the prisoners, “They broke me inside and out”, exposes the inhumane treatment of prisoners in the oppressive East German state.
Ultimately, both W.H Auden and Anna Funder warn against oppressive ruling powers, and uncover the consequences when these powers are not challenged by the majority in their respective works “The Shield of Achilles” and “The Unknown Citizen”, and Stasiland. Both composers represent the political acts occurring at their relevant times, and expose the impact of such acts on individual lives as well as society as a