Twopoems on Brueghel’s Landscape with the Fall of Icarus

肖越

【Abstract】Both Based on Pieter Brueghel the Elders landscape painting that portrays the fall of Icarus in Greek mythology， William Carlos Williams same-title poem Landscape with the Fall of Icarusand W.H.Audens Musée des Beaux Arts share a similar motif but unfold themselves in slightly different approaches. By firstly introducing the original painting work， the paper will give a general introduction of the two poems and then make an analysis of their respective features to see the diverse artistic effects inspired by a common artwork.

【Key Words】Landscape with the Fall of Icarus；Musée des Beaux Arts；comparison； artistic effects

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus， as a famous artwork of Pieter Brueghel the Elder， depicts the scene of Icarus falling in the Greek mythology. According to the original story， Icarus， son of Daedalus， wearing the fragile wings his father had made， fled from imprisonment. Heedless of his fathers warning， the ambitious boy kept too near to the sun， which made the wax of his wings melted. Consequently， Icarus plummeted into the sea and died. One interesting part of Brueghels painting is that emphasis is put on the surrounding scenery around the desperate fall of Icarus instead of the tragedy itself. With only two small legs appearing in the negligible corner， the whole painting exhibits the motif of the unimportance of ones misfortunes by highlighting indifference of other people and serenity of the scenery. Based on this artwork， therere also two poems depicting the fall of Icarus and expressing the similar motif in their own exquisite and different ways.

On Brueghels Landscape of the fall of Icarus， William Carlos Williams same-title poem Landscape with the Fall of Icarus and W.H.Audens Musée des Beaux Arts are two famous poems. By both portraying what they see in the painting， the two poets share a common agreement that personal tragedy always goes unnoticed in the indifferent world. They both underline the oblivion of Icarus tragedy in others eyes and the unnoticed white legs of Icarus struggling in waters. Despite being drawn materials from one common artwork， the two poems take on their own respective features and charms due to the different styles of the two poets.

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus is by William Carlos Williams under the labels of modernist and imagist. He appreciates the preciseness of imagery with simple， clear language. Sentences are short and the vertical arrangement just resembles Icarus falling. Compared with Audens poem that focuses on expressing his idea stimulated by the painting， Williams more tends to put the landscape of the painting into words. Written in free verse， Williams poem consists of seven three-line word groupings without punctuation and capitalization. He creates a vivid image of the landscape， and like the painting， the poem overrides the death of Icarus with the peaceful scenery. From the line “the whole pageantry/of the year was/awake tingling/near” and “According to Brueghel/when Icarus fell/it was spring”， the basic tone can be seen as positive and vibrant， which is a very ironic comparison with Icarus death as he presents at the end by the word “unsignificantly” “a splash quite unnoticed” and “Icarus drowning”. Williams takes the main part of the poem to depict a scene of vitality and peace， while at the end with only several lines he points out the unnoticed tragedy. In this case， we can say he “draws” a poem much like the original work of Brueghel.endprint

However， Audens work is quite different from Williams on the part of organizing the poem and expressing ideas. With longer sentences and fewer stanzas， Icarus story is only mentioned in the second part. On the whole， this poem also takes as its focus the insignificance of ones sufferings that will not influence those in the vicinity. But unlike Williams way of only depicting the scene of the painting， this poem uses several artworks with Landscape with the Fall of Icarus as only one of them to elaborate on the authors thoughts evoked by the works. In the first stanza， he mentions the Old Masters knowledge about human sufferings. The paintings The Census of Bethlehem and The Massacre of the Innocents are mentioned. Auden portrays indifference of the playing children skating on the pond and the innocent dogs and horses when they confront the birth of Jesus and the dreadful martyrdom. These examples provide context for the extended description of the Icarus painting in the next stanza. Compared with Williams， Auden adds his own elaborations and understandings to the painting. The ploughman “may” have noticed “the forsaken cry” of Icarus， but it is not “an important failure，” and he continues the business； the ship nearby “must” have noticed， but it “sailed calmly on.” for it had “somewhere to get to.” He puts imagination to the characters and illuminates further the theme of his poem. The theme is the outside world， where people are usually unaware of the misfortunes of others， is indifferent to the destiny of individuals. The tone of the poem is measured and thoughtful. It is a contemplation of individuals fate. Without tight rhyme scheme and traditional forms， Audens writing is much more thought-provoking.

Though derived from one painting， both William Carlos Williams Landscape with the Fall of Icarus and W.H.Audens Musée des Beaux Arts achieve different artistic effects due to distinct skill and style of the two poets. They display a common theme in different ways of dealing with the original painting. An eternal truth can be known from the two poems that life always goes on no matter what happens. Most importantly， it can also be known that art can have various ways to present itself and each can have an everlasting appeal to all human beings.

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[4]Kaburrel. Landscape with the Fall of Icarus： A Tale of Two Artists. 11 Feb.2017.endprint