Tragic fall of Icarus--compares the myth and how it relates to 'Musee des Beaux Arts,' Landscape with the Fall of Icarus,' and 'Waiting for Icarus.'

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.

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.

In the poem “Icarus” by Edward Field is alluding to the myth of Icarus and Daedalus which is set in a contemporary setting. The poem takes a spin on the myth were instead of Icarus drowning, he is set in today 's world as the fall of the great hero, nothing but an ordinary man. It reveals that Icarus cannot handle being just ordinary and “wishes he had drowned.” (line 30). Through imagery, diction and irony Fields uses a contemporary setting to convey the life of Icarus who is living as a man who once achieved greatness.

It also shows a shift from the present situation to a future one then back to the present. In the beginning of the poem the son is currently waiting for his father to tell him a story and has a sense of eagerness to him while the father has a sense of tiredness to him. This scene is depicted as the father being “in a room full of books in a world of stories,” (6-7) yet the father has difficult trying to come up with a story to tell despite how many are around home. The room that they are in is described as having books of stories inside of it and outside of the room is the whole world that is full of stories to tell. At this point the problem is that the father cannot think of a story to tell his son who asked him to tell him a new story which, according to the father, seems to be the beginning of the end. The father believes that since he is not able to tell stories as quickly and easily as he could before then one day soon, “the boy will give up on his father,” (8-9). These thoughts help to prepare and give background to the glimpse into the future when the boy is getting ready to leave his father by packing his clothes and having his keys ready to go. Since the father saw the day he would lose his son to manhood, once the day actually came the father seemed very upset at the boy but not for leaving but more so for the reasons that he is. The father yells at the son, “Are you a god...that I sit mute before you? Am I a god that I should never disappoint,” (16-18). It seems that the father and son have had an argument or disagreement and the son did not want to deal with all the problems that had grown to be too much for him so he chooses to not say anything to his father at all as he is getting ready to leave. The father calls him out on this and claims that he is imperfect and will disappoint

In this stylistic analysis of the lost baby poem written by Lucille Clifton I will deal mainly with two aspects of stylistic: derivation and parallelism features present in the poem. However I will first give a general interpretation of the poem to link more easily the stylistic features with the meaning of the poem itself.

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.

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 the beginning of Dunne’s poem, the narrator is explaining to his lover that he is to depart soon and will be separated for a short period. By comparing his departure to “as virtuous men pass mildly away,” this depicts that their separation is similar to a quiet and calming death, with a sense of calmness and understanding under-layered in it. Therefore, when the last breath is pulled “whisper to their soul to go,” by departing for a short period, the narrator describes how both of their souls is gone when the other is away. By comparing their love to a man’s death, a drawing compass and the planets, he implies death should not be feared but accepted with little sadness, “sad friends”.

In Ovid’s “The Story of Daedalus and Icarus”, Ovid uses characterization to make the characters realistic and vivid and to reveal plot through the characters’ actions, thoughts, speech and physical appearance. Without the characterization of Daedalus and Icarus, understanding “The Story of Daedalus and Icarus” completely is not possible. Ovid hides important pieces of the plot in the text, and wants the readers to reveal the true meaning of the story by looking into the characteristics of the main characters, Daedalus and Icarus. With the view of their wants and responsibilities, the story becomes clear to the reader and the purpose of this story in a poem is revealed.

The poem “Icarus” by Edward Field explores the downfall of a man named Icarus from glory to mediocrity. He crossed the sea with huge wings to escape prison, but he flew too close to the sun, which melted his wings, causing him to fall into the ocean. Field uses several literary devices, such as connotation, alliteration, metonymy, and repetition, to adapt the Icarus myth to a contemporary setting.

At some point in life, the pain and tragedy that one person faces may go unnoticed to the rest of the world. Moreover, success is most often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable. The essence established in the works of Brueghel, Auden, and Williams, all seemingly illustrate the falling of Icarus. As the depictions of Icarus’ death vaguely differ, the central idea of man’s failure is still establish.

"Out, Out," by Robert Frost is a gruesomely graphic and emotional poem about the tragic end of a young boy's life. It is a powerful expression about the fragility of life and the fact that death can come at any time. Death is always devastating, but it is even more so when the victim is just a young boy. The fact that the boy's death came right before he could " Call it a day" (750) leads one to think the tragedy might have been avoided and there by forces the reader to think, "What if." This poem brings the question of mortality to the reader's attention and shows that death has no age limit.

Death is a topic that unites all of humanity. While it can be uncomfortable to think about, confronting death in unavoidable. “Dying” addresses that discomfort and universal unwillingness to consider the inevitability of death. Pinsky’s use of imagery, symbolism, and tone create a poetic experience that is like death, something every reader can relate to. In “Dying,” Pinsky describes how people are oblivious and almost uncaring when it comes to the thought of death. Pinsky is trying to convince the reader that they shouldn’t ignore the concept of death because life is shorter than it seems.

He invites us into a tour of the “Musée des Beaux Arts”, in order for the reader to understand the “Old Masters’ point of view which is displayed in the paintings. The pronouns ‘its” and “it”(line 3) refer to the word suffering. Then, the following verses are meant to contrast with the suffering people experience. Those verses are descriptions of what is happening while other people are experiencing suffering. Unlike what we can imagine, the people described are not themselves in pain, they are just occupied with their everyday activities: “While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking /dully along”(lines 4 to 5). Also, even a “miraculous birth”(line 7) does not keep people from being self-centered. In the first stanza, the author wants to insist on the fact that meaningful events are occurring, but people are not paying attention to what surrounds them. They just focus on their matter. In the second stanza, Auden names the work of art on which he is making the commentary: Brueghel’s Icarus. Brueghel painted Icarus in such a way that the part of the painting that is relevant to the title of the painting remains discrete. A disaster is occurring. Indeed, Icarus has fallen from the sky, and is now drowning. We can see his legs outside the water. Still, no one seems to care. The ship “that must have seen”(line 21) Icarus’ legs “sailed calmly on”. Auden here personifies the ship. This

This is expressed by the multiple examples of old men whom regret certain aspects of their lives and defy death even when they know their time is up. The speaker is urging his father to fight against old age and death. The meaning and subject of the poem influence the tone and mood. The tone is one of frustration and insistence. Thomas is slightly angry and demanding. His words are not a request, they are an order. The mood of the poem is is serious and solemn due to the poem focusing mainly on the issue of death. This mood and tone is created by words such as “burn”(2), “Grieved”(11) and “rage”(3) along with phrases such as “crying how bright”(7), “forked no lightning”(5), “near death”(13) and “fierce tears”(17). The insistent feeling is also created by the repetition of the lines “Do not go gentle into that good night”(1), and “Rage, rage against the dying of the light”(3). The figurative language used also affect how the meaning, tone and mood are interpreted.