The Norton Anthology of Western Literature (Pg 181-82, Lines 334-62)

In this passage of the 22nd book of the Illiad, Achilles and Hector are engaging in a fight to the death. Achilles is the strongest warrior on the Greek side of the Trojan War. He is part god, honored by the Greeks, and feared by the Trojans. Hector is the Prince of the city of Troy and the strongest warrior on the side of the Trojans. Troy is the Trojan city that the Greeks are attacking. The fight between Achilles and Hector is very relevant in the Illiad because Achilles wants to kill Hector because he killed Achilles’s friend, Patroclus. Though not related, Achilles and Patroclus often are referred to as brothers. Patroclus fought in the war while wearing Achilles’s armor, but Hector killed him and took the armor for himself. This enraged Achilles who vowed to kill Hector to avenge Achilles’s fallen brother. The death of Hector is an important part in this book because it opens the door for the Greeks to sack the city and win the war. Without their strongest warrior, Troy has no chance to fight off the Greek opposition. During this passage, Achilles has a berserk mindset because of the slaying of his brother. He does not care about his own well-being or if he dies, he just wants to fight Hector and try to kill him.

And he drew the sharp broadsword that hung
By his side and gathered himself for a charge.

A high-flying eagle dives
Through ebony clouds down
To the sun-scutched plain to claw
A lamb or a quivering hare

Thus Hector's charge, and the light
That played from his blade's honed edge.

Opposite him, Achilles exploded forward, fury
Incarnate behind the curve of his shield,
A glory of metalwork, and the plumes
Nodded and rippled on his helmet's crest,
Thick golden horsehair set by Hephaestus,
And his spearpoint glinted like the Evening Star

In the gloom of night
Star of perfect splendor,

A gleam in the air as Achilles poised
His spear with murderous aim at Hector,
Eyes boring into the beautiful skin,
Searching for the weak spot. Hector's body
Was encased in the glowing bronze armor
He had stripped from the fallen Patroclus,
But where the collarbones join at the neck
The gullet offered swift and certain death.
It was there Achilles drove his spear through
As Hector charged. The heavy bronze apex
Pierced the soft neck but did not slit the windpipe,
So that Hector could speak still.

He fell back in the dust.