“Landscape with the Fall of Icarus”, written by William Carlos Williams is a poem inspired by the drawing of Brueghel, with a focus on the painting in which the “fall of Icarus” is being portrayed. Also understood from the title, the poem touches upon the Greek tragedy of Icarus. The poem is mainly focused on the drawing itself and it recognizes the drawing in every aspect. It is also important to see that the title of the poem is not just the fall of Icarus but “Landscape with the Fall of Icarus” which suggests that the poem is more about the landscape that surrounds Icarus in the unfortunate event that causes him to die in the midst of his life. A crucial aspect of Brueghel's painting is its perspective and this perspective is shown to the reader with the poem, which seems to have the same perspective as the painting. Just like the painting, the poem first focuses on different aspects that surround the actual event that is occurring. The drawing of Brueghel has a lot of detail concerning the landscape of the fall of Icarus and yet only unnoticeable legs sticking out of the blue water. As stated earlier, a crucial part of the painting is its perspective, which shows that there are so many things going on in our lives that we rarely notice important things that happen and perhaps act selfishly. The poem has a lot of imagery and detail in its stanzas. The structure of the poem is exactly like painting for example a farmer is ploughing his fields, concerned with the ongoing life. The poem has a focus on the landscape that shows the reader the unconcern for calamities and suffering due to the preoccupation of ongoing life. The last words of the poem are "Icarus drowning." With this, the reader is forced paradoxically not only to see but also to feel painful towards the irony of the death of Icarus. The poem is structured so that it’s telling us what is occurring in the painting of Brueghel.
“Musee des Beaux Arts” is a poem written by W. H. Auden who was influenced by the same painting, “the Fall of Icarus”. The main idea of this poem is human suffering and how it has become so common in human nature. This poem suggests that people notice and turn away from catastrophes and human suffering because everyone is used to the natural occurrence of such events. This poem suggests that humans have developed a natural acceptance for suffering from nature and that suffering has become such a common event that it’s not even significant enough to disrupt the normal cycle of life.
When the two poems are compared, we’ll see that there are some similarities and also some differences. In the “Landscape with the Fall of Icarus nobody seems to notice the drowning of Icarus because everybody is busy with their own lives and their responsibilities and people are selfish. But in Auden’s Musee des Beaux Arts the people notice the drowning of Icarus but seem to ignore it because suffering has become a natural event that people seem to be always faced with. This is why they act like they haven’t seen anything. Both poems agree on the fact that people are selfish and only care about themselves but the reason for people being selfish is portrayed differently in the two poems. Also, even though the same painting influences both poets, the way they use the painting are very different. W. H. Auden uses the painting of Brueghel as an example to prove a point he is defending. W. H. Auden believes that no one cares about any body else’s suffering anymore because people are very used to facing suffering and it has become a natural occurrence in their lives. . To prove what he believes in, he uses the Icarus example. He suggests that the ploughman might have heard a forsaken cry and a splash but is not bothered to turn and see what happens also “the expensive delicate ship that must have seen” but “had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.” because people don’t care about others suffering because it has become very common. The same painting is interpreted and put in to poetry differently in Williams’ poem. More imagery is seen in Williams’ poem because the poem mainly revolves around the 1landscape and details that go on as Icarus falls out of the sky. Only the last stanza touches upon the fall of Icarus, which is significantly related with the painting itself. It can be understood from both of the poems that “Landscape with the Fall of Icarus” achieves the same goal as the painting of Brueghel. The goal is to show the reader and audience that no one actually cares or notices poor Icarus as he comes tumbling down the sky. The painting shows this through vivid details and perspective and the poem achieves this by imagery in the landscape and leaving Icarus to the last stanza. Other than that both the poems have the same theme, which is human apathy towards one another.
It is seen that poems inspired by the same things and poems that have the same theme and topic can perhaps be different from one another. “Musee de Beaux Arts” and “Landscape with the Fall of Icarus” can be two examples to poems that are so close and yet so apart from each other. Not only do they show different understanding and perspectives but also different styles of writing and different tones. Both poets add their own unique tone to the poetry, which creates variety between the two poems.
