The Myth of Icarus
Generally, the gods in Greek
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Generally, the gods in Greek mythology are portrayed as human in form and in character. However, as Morford & Lenardon state, although they may look and act like men, "very often their appearance and their actions are at least to some extent idealized" (73). This means that their beauty usually appears as beyond that of ordinary mortals, their passions are grander and more intense, and their feelings more praiseworthy and touching (Morford & Lenardon 73). Nonetheless, Morford & Lenardon observe that these gods, who can often "embody and impose the loftiest moral values in the universe," also can mirror the physical and spiritual weakness of their human counterparts (73). They can be crippled or deformed, and vain, petty, and insincere. They can steal, lie, and cheat, "sometimes with a finesse that is exquisitely divine" (Morford & Lenardon 73). This ability to portray within the same god the loftiest ideal and the most base character is evident in poems that utilize Greek mythology. Specifically, this paper will look at the use of the myth of Icarus in W. H. Auden's "Musee des Beaux Arts" and Edward Field's "Icarus." It will conclude that in these poems the poet uses the conflicting motif of the fallen hero to discuss human suffering. According to Greek myth, Icarus was the son of Daedalus. Daedalus was an inventor and craftsman employed by Minos, the king of Crete, to design an build a labyrinth (Roberts & Jacobs 830). The labyrinth was inte
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nding the Old Masters for their ability to understand human suffering. Auden's position is that one person may by undergoing great suffering "[w]hile someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking along" (line 4). This sentiment rings true, for one can perhaps remember the feeling of amazement that an event of such magnitude occurs for one person while somewhere someone else is merely eating their breakfast cereal while watching a talk show. The death of one's best friend, for example, can make your world seem to stop. You are amazed that the whole world does not stop. But everywhere, people continue to eat and sleep and go to the bathroom.
Auden expresses these sentiments by referencing various works of Brueghel, as the note indicates (Roberts & Jacobs 831, note 14). The birth of Christ occurs as children ice-skate on the edge of the woods; the Crucifixion occurs as dogs "go on with their doggy life and the torturer's horse scratches its innocent behind on a tree" (lines 12-13). But he spends the most time on Brueghel's Icarus, in which Icarus falls into the sea as a farmer continues to plough his field.
The structure of Auden's poem echoes his theme of unobserved suffering. Auden does not introduce the my
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Approximate Word count = 1396
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)
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