Concetti Chiave
- Auden's poem draws inspiration from Brueghel's painting "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus," illustrating how people remain indifferent to others' suffering.
- The poem themes include the timeless nature of human sorrow and the world's indifference to individual suffering, influenced by Auden's visit to the Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels.
- The fall of Icarus is depicted as a poignant event, highlighting how significant occurrences can be perceived as trivial by those not directly affected.
- The poem suggests a relative perception of human actions, where importance varies based on individual perspectives.
- The behavior of the ploughman, who continues his work despite witnessing Icarus's tragedy, symbolizes the common human tendency to remain unaffected by others' misfortunes.
What was Auden's inspiration?
Auden wrote:
“In Breughel's Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away
Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may
Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry,
But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone
As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green
Water; and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen
Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky,
had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.”
From “Musèe des Beux Art”
Themes of the poem
The title of this poem, which belongs to the section People and Places of the collection Another Time, refers to the Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels, which Auden visited in 1938. There he saw Brueghel’s painting Landscape with the fall of Icarus; ispired by this and other paintings, Auden developed a notion of human nature and suffering which transcends time and space. In this extract is described the crucial event of the fall of Icarus which conveys the theme of Sorrow. Another theme is the world’s indifference to individual suffering human acts are perceived in a relative way: their value changes depending on the perspective from which they are seen. What is important or amazing to one person is insignificant to another.
Indifference to suffering
Let's watch the ploughman's behaviour: he keeps on working in the field untouched by Icarus's suffering.
Men before deciding to behave badly to their fellow creatures, they should wonder: If someone injured me,what would I do?
Domande da interrogazione
- What inspired Auden to write "Musée des Beaux Arts"?
- How does the poem illustrate the theme of indifference to suffering?
Auden was inspired by Brueghel’s painting "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus," which he saw at the Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels in 1938. This painting, along with others, helped him develop themes of human nature and suffering that transcend time and space.
The poem illustrates indifference to suffering through the ploughman's behavior, who continues working in the field, unaffected by Icarus's fall. This reflects the broader theme of how people often remain detached from the suffering of others.
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