In the second stanza, Auden moves to a specific example: considering Pieter Brueghel the Elder’s Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (pictured right), which depicts the tiny ‘white legs’ of the youth (who flew too close to the sun) as they disappear, almost insignificantly, into the water, Auden argues that such a painting bears out his statement about the Old Masters understanding the ‘human position’ of suffering.Īuden thankfully did neither, embracing instead a more traditional set of poetic forms (he wrote a whole sequence of sonnets about the Sino-Japanese War of the late 1930s) and a more direct way of writing that rejected modernism’s love of obscure allusion. (Note how the adverb ‘passionately’, used of the people eagerly awaiting the birth of Christ, contains a subtle suggestion of the suffering or martyrdom to come, namely the ‘Passion’ of the Crucifixion.) "Musee des Beaux Arts" is written with some sentence structure, and puts out a co.During the nativity or birth of Christ, there were children ‘who did not specially want it to happen’, who went on skating on a nearby pond (well, according to tradition, it was December, after all) while some ‘dreadful martyrdom’ was taking place, some future saint was being tortured in a wood, the horse belonging to the torturer stood idly by and scratched its ‘innocent behind’ on a tree. Auden, and William Carlos Williams have no similarities whatsoever. However, "Musee des Beaux Arts" disagrees and says that the farmer heard the splash from Icarus but he was too concerned with his plowing to try and save Icarus from drowning.Īlso, the writing styles that were used by W. Another difference between the two poems is that "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus" says how the farmer ploughing his field did not notice Icarus falling from the sky and landing in the ocean. "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus" does not once mention anything about a ship in the ocean. Auden describes the ship that was near Icarus as he plummeted into the ocean, and how it just kept sailing instead of stopping to save Icarus from drowning. Also, the poems seemed to focus on different details of the portrait. He writes about children that are ice skating on a pond in the woods, the birth of Jesus Christ, and a horse scratching itself on a tree while on dog carries on with his regular routine, all in the same poem. Auden's "Musee des Beaux Arts" treats "The Fall of Icarus" like any other portrait that is hung up in the Museum of Fine Arts. ![]() The poem by William Carlos William's treats the portrait of Icarus like it is a monumental portrait, and devotes the entire poem to the portrait. "Musee des Beaux Arts" and "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus" give off two totally different vibes. ![]() In my opinion, two poems that are written about the very same picture could not have more differences. While there are some similarities, there are staggering differences in the content, as well as the format of these two poems. Auden's "Musee des Beaux Arts", and William Carlos William's "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus," I have concluded that these two poems are much more different than they are similar.
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