Literary Devices In Icarus By Edward Field

People are constantly showing that they are not very different from each other no matter who they are and what they want to achieve. Anna Comnena is a princess and the first heir to her father’s throne in the Byzantine empire, but she loses it all when her hubris and foolishness get the best of her and stains everyone else’s impression of her, as Tracy Barrett had illustrated in her novel Anna of Byzantium. Alternatively, Icarus is a boy who is the son of Daedalus, the greatest craftsmen of Greece, who becomes imprisoned on the island of Crete with his father and dies during the time when they attempt to escape as shown in the myth portrayed by Sally Benson in her retelling of the myth, “The Flight of Icarus”,

Daedalus and Icarus is a tale written by the Roman Poet, Ovidius Naso republished in 1922, to teach the readers to be responsible & follow their parents’ directions. Otherwise, there might suffer negative consequences.

Edward Fields uses the setting to connect the imagery of the poem which sets the tone and shows how Icarus is living in a new society. The first stanza describes the tragic death of Icarus. Then the third stanza shows how Icarus is living in his new life. The first stanza is describing Icarus 's death at a crime scene, where there were witnesses. “so the report filed and forgotten in the archives.” (line 6). This line shows that Icarus was forgotten about, what happened at the scene did not mean much to the people that were there as they ran off to a “gang war”(5). Then in stanza three where the setting changes to a more contemporary, current societal lifestyle where “Mr Hicks” who is aging in the suburbs and living as the hero who fell. “to the middling stature of the merely talented.” (line 20). This shows that Icarus is now one of the regular people, nothing

Shaffer, the poem uses nature against Icarus. This poem is about what it would be like to be Icarus while he was taking his last breath. Was Icarus mad? Was he blaming his father? Was he regretful? These were all questions that were addressed throughout the poem. The mythical poem states, “Watching white feathers flutter upward, curse the wax as a fair weathered friend… Did he rail at the sun… he laughed, and admitted that even had he known of the many failings of fathers and feathers, he would have done it anyway” (Shaffer 20). This piece of evidence displays the importance of Icarus flying to close to the sun and dying. It shows how he killed himself along with the nature. The nature of the myth and poem plays the role of freedom and death. The feathers signify freedom because of being able to flutter and fly, while the sun signifies death and misfortune. Even though Icarus died, he died being the adventurous foolish person he is. With nature not on his side, it shows how when you do not follow rules, you may end up being in serious trouble even if it was fun. If you get too senseless, you can end up having a big problem. Overall, in the poem “Icarus” by Wendy A. Shaffer, nature is the root of Icarus’

Icarus is a poem by Edward Field, and is based on the classic myth of Daedalus and Icarus but with a twist. Field tells the story in a contemporary setting as seen through his eyes. Field uses modern diction, symbolism, irony, and imagery to portray Icarus’ myth in a contemporary setting that is dull and mundane.

In the story “The Flight of Icarus” at first when his father had made him wings he was cautious about learning to fly. He knew that if he flew too close to the ocean the water would make his wings wet and heavy. He also knew that if he flew too close to the sun that the heat would melt the wax holding the feathers of his wings into place. When his father first said that when he would teach him he was cautious but then as he got used to it and took his freedom for granted. He had flown too close to the sun and “The blazing sun beat down on the wings and floated softly down, warning Icarus to stay his flight and glide the earth.”

Myths explain our circumstances in the world and the universe. A prime example of this is the myth of Icarus and Daedalus. Pieter Brueghel painted a picture decrypting the moment of Icarus fall from the heavens. And the two poets William Carlos Williams and W. H. Auden each wrote a poem based on Brueghel's painting, both of which developed a deep meaningful message to the reader. Diction, connotation, and denotation are all used to help describe the emotions and tragedies that Brueghel's painting portrays. These poems are written based on the myth of Icarus.

In order to understand the deeper meanings and implications of Damon and Icarus’ respective journeys, it is imperative to first understand the personal motivations driving these journeys, and the necessity of undertaking them. Although Icarus rarely explicitly refers to his physical journey, focussing instead on his internal journey, it is predominantly borne out of his cruelty to Tin Head, and a subsequent search for redemption and

The two myths, Phaethon and Daedalus and Icarus, describe the fatal mistake of 2 foolishly ambitious young boys. Throughout the two texts the authors, Bernard Evslin and Geraldine McCaughrean, who respectively rewrote Phaethon and Daedalus and Icarus, use the literary elements of characterization and imagery to convey their shared theme. Through the use of characterization and imagery, both mythological protagonists, Phaethon and Icarus, demonstrate a common lesson that a prideful disregard of the warnings from those who are older and wiser can quickly lead to disastrous consequences.

-The Landscape with the Fall of Icarus: By giving Icarus the ability to fly, he has a freedom unfathomed by most. This freedom is too much for someone to handle and he does even what he is told not to, by flying close to the sun.

Using the myth of Icarus, the speaker establishes the importance of myths in her relationship with her father and the lessons that follow them as they mature.

With this quote, it shows Icarus’ immaturity, foolish and playfulness when it comes to his father’s inventions and his life. Icarus is a young boy which is evident from the quote above because he is playing with the wax and watching and admiring his dad. If it was an older boy, he’d probably be off by himself or helping his father with his inventions instead of playing with the wax in the wings. Icarus is an innocent boy who doesn’t understand the importance of being responsible. Not being responsible leads him to his death, which could have been avoided if he had paid attention to what his father had told him. Icarus got swept up in the moment when he was flying, and lost all of his thoughts which lead him to the mistake of flying too high.

Around 60 BCE, the ancient Greek writer Diodorus wrote the story of Icarus, in which the son of Daedalus ignored his father’s warnings, and after flying too close to the sun plunged to his death as the wax holding his wings together melted. While the story incorporates themes of human nature and curiosity, it more importantly conveys a lesson of unchecked ambition. Whether it is for wealth or a better future, humans tend to strive for what is best for themselves in life. Unfortunately, unchecked ambition often ends with poor results, as seen in the story of Icarus. Centuries later, ambition remains a prominent theme in literature, and authors have utilized this natural human trait in countless stories and novels. Two authors who do so are Charles Dickens in his book Great Expectations, and M.L. Stedman in The Light Between Oceans. In both novels, unchecked ambition affects different characters negatively.

The tale of “Icarus” was supposed to be a life lesson towards children and adolescents to listen and obey their parents; however, there are four artists that have interpreted the tale in different ways in forms of a painting and poems. The four artists convey the overall message of “Icarus” through their own ways of meanings of the human experience in terms of death and its selfishness. These artists have in common of illustrating the cruel nature of humans and the insignificant death they face. Although, the works of the artists convey different meanings of “Icarus,” they all connects together to the same theme.

You are correct in pointing out that we think we know everything just like Icarus. I like how the myth connected the Fathers and sons, and showed the results of not listening to the father. It showed the importance of the follow up with Theseus forgetting to change the flag, and how Icarus was punished to death for flying to close to the sun.