Landscape with the Fall of Icarus
...cape with the Fall of Iicarus had been painted from a different angle, the viewer may have gotten a much different perception. At first glance, one would never speculate that death is one of the themes of this painting. After closer examination however, death and suffering become prominent points of symbolism. One looks down on the plowman, the boat, and the sea in order to see what Icarus saw as he fell to his death. As Icarus fell from the burning hot sun into the sea, he could see the plowman working diligently and the ship sailing along. Surely he expected the scene to change once the surrounding people noticed his fall. However, that was not the case. It was a symbol of Icarus’ pride that he felt he could fly close to the sun and the heavens. This is ironic because his mythological character holds no significance to the average person. Both Brueghel’s painting and the accompanying poem “Musee des Beaux Arts” by W.H. Auden remind one of their own personal suffering, which does not substantially affect the world around us. As W.H. Auden states in his poem “Musee des Beaux Arts”, “the plowman may / Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry, / But for him it was not an important failure” (lines 15-16). The plowman continued to plow, and the boats continued to sail as if nothing had happened. The hustle and bustle of daily life was too important to interrupt in order to help Icarus. This may seem outrageous but if Icarus’ situation is compared to something that most people can relate to then it does not seem so outlandish. How many times have you turned on the morning news and heard a tragic story of a plane crash or a car accident that killed several people? It is almost guaranteed that this has happened to everyone at least once in their life. Viewers of the news most likely feel remorse for the victims and their families but not much beyond that. Chances are that the story will not even cross their mind a second time that day. On a large scale, the symbolism of both the painting and the poem is that many people suffer a great deal without the awareness that others are unaffected. This is the feeling often felt by writers, poets, or anyone who puts a large amount of effort into their work. They often fear that there work goes unnoticed, just as the death of Icarus does. Writers and poets want their work to live on far beyond their earthly time, and the worst fear that they have is that the world will not appreciate their accomplishments. This Greek mythological story about Icarus the poet is subtly conveying this idea. Auden uses irony in his poem to tell the story of Icarus. Although the heat of the sun is what causes the death of Icarus, that same sun provides nourishment for the plowman’s crops. That is perhaps why the plowman is unaffected by the fall, “it was not an important failure; the sun shone” (line 17). Also, the same sea in which Icarus drown, is the sea that allows the ships to travel. As Auden writes, “the expensive delicate ship that must have seen/ Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky, / Had somewhere to get and sailed calmly on” (lines 19-21). This use of irony shows that what is good for one person, may be fatal to another. It teaches the readers and viewers that we rarely simultaneously pay attention to both the good and the bad aspects of life. When things are goi...