The Tragic Death of Icarus
The story of Icarus is a classic Greek myth that has fascinated people all over the world. The tale of his demise has been retold many times throughout history. The myth has been honored in art, songs, poetry and by literature artists, with one apparently inspiring the other to explore the tale in one different approach or another. Three of the most appealing of these versions of the tale of Icarus can be found in the poems "Musee des Beaux Arts" by W. H. Auden, "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus" by W. C. Williams, and "Waiting for Icarus" by Muriel Rukeyser. Even though the three poems talk about Icarus's fall, each covers it in a different way. "Musee des Beaux Arts" and "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus" describes how human suffering occurs at as a personal burden that only affects the influenced individual.
Bruegel's Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, used ...
English: Circle of Bruegel the Elder " The Fall of...
Pieter Bruegel the Elder - Landscape with the Fall...In addition, they both basically let us know that life goes on. In contrast, "Waiting for Icarus" is told from a personal perspective and is about broken promises, personal suffering and how it affects an individual. The first two of these poems were inspired by the painting Fall of Icarus by Peter Breughel since both of them mention Breughel by name in their poems. This painting, therefore, is vital to each of these poet's descriptions of the tale of Icarus. Breughel's painting is central in Auden's and Williams' poem, for it shows us that no one is concerned that Icarus is drowning. The people surrounded by his death look at it as a part of their everyday life. However, Rukeyeser's poem is not influenced by the painting and is about a person who is personally suffering because Icarus has not returned like he promised.
In his...