At the Gym

“The Shield of Achilles” by W.H. Auden (1952)

W.H. Auden’s “The Shield of Achilles” is a good example of modern poetic ekphrasis. Auden’s poem does not engage with the object of interpretation as directly as Doty’s work, but his object, Achilles's shield, traces its lineage to the origin of ekphrasis in the western tradition. Modern ekphrasis, like Auden’s poem, often focuses on impressions and abstractions inspired by the art object under observation. Comparing Auden’s work to “At the Gym” helps to demonstrate Doty’s unwavering focus on his unconventional interpretive object.

“Laboratory Poem” by James Merrill (1958)

Doty’s poetry is often compared to the works of James Merrill for his similar use of free verse forms. Merrill's “Laboratory Poem” is an effective contrast to Doty’s “At the Gym” because both poems are confined to a particular kind of space. Merrill’s laboratory is a heterosocial environment, and Merrill’s speaker chooses to emphasize the relationship between individuated characters. Merrill also opts for longer lines length that, when juxtaposed to “At the Gym,” bring the force of Doty’s shorter lines into sharper contrast.

“Homosexuality“ by Frank O’Hara (1970)

Frank O’Hara is one of the first modern gay voices in poetry. Though O’Hara only lived to the age of 40, his works have influenced many contemporary poets, including Doty. “Homosexuality,” like many of O’Hara’s works, treats a serious topic with a light-hearted tone. Rather than elevate the mundane to the level of the divine, as Doty does in “At the Gym,” O’Hara’s poem is ironic and largely unconcerned with the seriousness of its subject matter. Despite the two poem’s differences, both have a similar relationship with desire, with O’Hara’s speaker ending the poem stating they “want to be wanted more than anything else in the world” (Line 22).

“The Death of Antinoüs“ by Mark Doty (1990)

“The Death of Antinoüs” is from Doty’s 1990 collection Bethlehem in Broad Daylight. The poem is representative of the kind of poetry he wrote earlier in his career. As the poem’s title suggests, it focuses on Roman emperor Hadrian’s beloved Antinoüs, a youth from ancient Greece. Doty relates the story of Antinoüs’s death at 19 years old, and Hadrian’s response to his death by “plac[ing] his image everywhere” (Line 8). Like “At the Gym,” this earlier poem places emphasis on the beauty of the male body. “The Death of Antinoüs” also engages with desire in a similar way as the later poem.