Landscape With The Fall Of Icarus

The “Poem on the Lisbon Disaster” by Voltaire is a poem published a month after the Lisbon Earthquake, meant to critique the philosophical views of the disaster while binging out the human emotion to realize what is happening. Four years later, Voltaire publishes Candide, a satire that is critiquing philosophical ideals, social standings and also morals. Voltaire’s “Poem on the Lisbon Disaster” and Candide are both examples that show that human choices are the cause of their own suffering. Humans have the choice to believe in a philosophy that may not only cause them to ignore the possibility of suffering but also to ignore their ability to relieve people of their suffering. Furthermore, humans have a choice in determining where they want to live, and can also chose to allow for another person to suffer for their sake. Individual choices can determine whether the individual or other will

W. H. Auden's poem however is quite different. "Musee des Beaux Arts" is written in free verse, meaning that the poem is essentially "free" of meter, regular rhythm, or a rhyme scheme. Like the specific structural considerations of the sonnet form, the seeming lack of structure which free verse offers is purposely employed and works to illuminate the poem's meaning. In Auden's poem, the long irregular lines, subtly enforced by the irregular end rhyme pattern, create a casual, conversational air more prosaic than poetic, and a somewhat nonchalant tone which is reflective of the compassionate world illustrated in Brueghel's art. For example, in Auden's poem there is a subtle rhyme scheme that is throughout the poem. The poem's first line rhymes with the fourth but the fifth rhymes with the seventh. So although there is a rhyme scheme it is a non-traditional. This concept imitates the painting in the way that when looking at the painting you know that Icarus is drowning somewhere, but you do not see him until you really start concentrating on the images painted on the canvas. The casual, easy-going argument the tone suggests is ironic for the

Brueghel’s painting focuses mostly on the surroundings, not really on icarus. If Daedalus response would be on the painting, then the tone of the painting would change by making it sad. In Ovid’s poem, Daedalus says, “ Icarus, Icarus where are you?” . This makes the tone sound a little more sad.

Virgil’s The Aeneid is a Latin epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. The poem details the journey of Aeneas and his men after they are forced to flee burning Troy and as they wander the seas in search of land suitable to found a new Troy. Throughout the many books, the Trojans suffer through the Trojan War, the loss of their home, fierce storms, horrible monsters, and the wrath of the gods. A major theme of The Aeneid is human suffering as the characters in the poem experience the full front of despair and pain.

The two poems “Waiting for Icarus” and “Musée des Beaux Arts” are narrative poems. “Musée des Beaux Arts” is a poem written by W. H. Auden and published in 1938. “Waiting for Icarus” is a poem written by Muriel Rukeyser and published in 1973. The poem “Musée des Beaux Arts” is about how no one truly cares when a tragedy is taking place, unless said tragedy concerns them directly. The poem “Waiting for Icarus” tells the story about a woman who is reminiscing being abandoned by her lover while waiting for him at the beach. The two poems have a great deal of similarities and differences between them. Despite the fact that “Musée des Beaux Arts” uses an indifferent tone and irregular rhyme scheme and “Waiting for Icarus” uses a melancholic tone and no discernible rhyme scheme, both poems use the themes of abandonment and suffering and the myth of Icarus in order to convey to their readers how people deal with pain and misery.

Although Hugh constantly and mechanically toils in an iron mill, the narrator points out that Hugh is different from most of his fellow laborers, for he is a man with the eye of an artist and the heart of a poet. During his brief moments of rest, Hugh creates sculptures from the waste of the iron he produces, for God has instilled into his soul “a fierce thirst for beauty,-to know it, to create it; to be---something, he knows not what,-other than he is” (Davis 1713). Moreover, there are times when Hugh, upon seeing the beauties of nature or humanity, is overcome with pain and outrage against God or “whoever it is that has forced this vile, slimy life upon him” (Davis 1713). This rage comes from the bleak realization that --- in spite of his pure heart, artistic gifts,

W. H. Auden, living during 1907-1973, is a man of class. He loved to visit an art gallery, which was called “Museum of Beautiful Art” (In French: Musee des Beaux Arts). Like T. S. Eliot, he was both an American poet and a British poet. Going back to Auden visiting the art gallery, he stared at this one painting. He stared at it for an extended amount of time, trying to determine what the piece of art meant. The piece of art, which Auden was trying to decode, was called “The Fall of Icarus” (The painter is a man named Brueghel). In Brueghel’s painting, the focus is on Icarus, but you barley notice the boy himself. It is very important to know the story of Daedalus and Icarus to fully understand this painting, poem, and essay. If you do not know the story, then go read it and then come read this to acquire the full grasp of what I am trying to emit out in words. The reason why there is a poem by W. H. Auden, is because when Auden looks at the painting he sees something so profound. So profound, he writes a poem about it. The things he finds so profound is, 1)

Daedalus’ Devastation There are many ways to interpret the myth Icarus but there will always be some similar points and differences between them. The painting, Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, was painted by Pieter Breughel the Elder is one way express his thoughts about the myth. Another interpretation of the legend Icarus is a poem written by W.H. Auden called, Musée des Beaux Arts. This infamous fable was about a young adventurous boy falling to his death while escaping prison with his father, using waxed wings.

Auden then makes a shift from the general to the very specific by using Brueghel's Icarus as an example of his point.  He describes the painting very well‹even if you have never seen it, you could understand what is happening in the

Musee des Beaux Arts by W. H. Auden starts his poem by honoring painters who painted about suffering and society’s arrogance to the nature of suffering. People focus only on their lives and children continue to play, all unconcerned with the suffering of others around them. Auden brings the painting of Icarus to show the indifference of humanity to individual suffering. The central point is to show that everyone is caught up in his or her own lives and enjoyment that they ignore the suffering of the world around them. I myself agree with the poem that we as a society focus more on our lives and what affects us. I work at a nursing home and have become very close to the residents I care for, and every day I see them many will tell me they have

In this painting, Pieter Bruegel the Elder addresses a sequence of individuals ongoing a series of actions leading towards a falling perspective. He presents these features by painting a scene filled with torture and darkness. Throughout his painting, Bruegel obtains many emotions from his characters projected in his creation by paying specific attentions to major and minor details. These are portrayed as effective evidence to what this painting implies to the viewer himself. With an orientation of texture and colour choices, the painter implies a chain of characters leading into darkness and sorrow by his striking choices of posture and facial deformities. Bruegel illustrates an art with implications of history and physical appearances

W.H. Auden’s poem, “Musée des Beaux Arts,” is clearly about suffering. However, Auden presents the idea of suffering in an uncommon, shrewdly observant manner by letting us know that the “Old Masters” have never been wrong about it (lines 10-12). The “Old Masters,” we discover, are painter like Pieter Brueghel, but the poet could also possibly mean that other artist—such as writers, musicians, dramatists, and myth creators—have been correct to imply in their works that no one seems to care about other people’s suffering. Auden’s poem suggest that suffering only becomes real to us when we experience it firsthand—possibly as the “Old Masters” have done by enduring, in some way, the sort of “dreadful martyrdom,” (line 10) that is an unfortunate

What Auden did in “Musee des Beaux Arts,” is point out how nothing is ordinary about ordinary life. All of our stories combine in the melting pot of our macro reality. We are kept in a distracting illusion of ego driven purpose in life. This way we are more productive for our masters, and less concerned about the systematic corruption of our species which they endorse. “About suffering they were never wrong, the old masters: how well they understood its human position.” Auden describes how the everyday routine lifestyles carry on as if they have no relationship with the bloody horrific everyday martyrdom of mankind. The Fall of Icarus is referenced in the end of the poem, which is a Greek myth of a boy with waxed wings who flew too close to the sun and melted his wings; leaving him plummeting into the sea. This really completed the full connection the poem has with “Theology.” They mock sacred tales that are told generation after generation to control the working class perspective. In my opinion the saying “don’t fly to close to the sun or you will get burnt,” is really sending a limiting message to people in their search for truth. We are taught to fear the powers of good and evil and it is an absurd control tactic that both of these poets mocked wonderfully. “A boy falling out of the sky, had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.” These poems encourage their readers to carry on and

Auden primarily uses irony to prove that humans have no empathy for strangers. For example, at the end of the first stanza, he writes, “. . . the torturer’s horse/ scratches its innocent behind on a tree” (12-13). The torturer’s horse is indifferent to what his master is doing, which enables him to remain innocent. The irony that a torturer’s horse is innocent conveys that if one ignores others’ suffering, one could remain happy in a cruel world. Irony puts extra emphasis on these lines and Auden demonstrates that this belief is central to his argument. The way that it is introduced also adds to the efficacy of persuasion. By making a simple analogy, he demonstrates his faith in his belief. Confidence makes for a more convincing argument, so Auden makes his poem even more persuasive. Additionally, the simplicity makes the conclusion come logically to most people. To add on to his logos, in the next stanza he says, “Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky,/ [The ship] Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on” (20-21). Auden alludes to the painting “The Fall of Icarus” which depicts Icarus’s death in the sea. In this painting, nothing acknowledges his death. The connection here demonstrates that while this event may initially appear to be tragic, but Icarus is insignificant in the grand scheme of things. On the other hand, Amazing has a very positive connotation and contrasts with the general mood of the poem. The irony that a boy’s death is “amazing” is shocking; however, once the initial shock fades and thought is put in, the logic of the rest of the

Suffering is a staple to the human condition. It can light the fire beneath and push progress, or it can lead to wallowing and a sense of helplessness. Often, helplessness leads to despair, which leads to more suffering, beginning an endless cycle of distress and anguish. Once stuck in this cycle, personal suffering begins to affect all aspects of one’s life, especially the environment around them. This feeling moves across genres and literary eras, giving a sense of human connection across generations. In Robert Browning’s Caliban Upon Setebos, Caliban is stuck in the world of an uncaring god. With an inability to please him, Caliban is helpless in his plight. Similarly, Hamm, from Samuel Beckett’s Endgame, is stuck in a cycle of