Landscape with The Fall of Icarus, ca. 1590-95
Circle of P. Bruegel the Elder (1525-1569)
Oil on wood (63x90 cm), Museum van Buuren, Brussels
I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold, 1928
Charles Demuth (1883–1935)
Oil on cardboard (90.2 x 76.2 cm), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC
Charles Demuth (1883–1935)
Oil on cardboard (90.2 x 76.2 cm), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC
More on this painting here.
Here are the poems. The first establishes an ekphrastic relation with Bruegel's painting, the later inspired Demuth to make this abstract portrait of his friend Williams.
"Landscape with the Fall of Icarus"
According to Brueghel when Icarus fell it was spring a farmer was ploughing his field the whole pageantry of the year was awake tingling near the edge of the sea concerned with itself sweating in the sun that melted the wings' wax unsignificantly off the coast there was a splash quite unnoticed this was Icarus drowning
"The Great Figure"
Among the rain and lights I saw the figure 5 in gold on a red firetruck moving tense unheeded to gong clangs siren howls and wheels rumbling through the dark city.
I have to say, Bruegel's painting really amazes me. I truly consider it a piece of art and I can see the direct line to the core of the poem.
ResponderEliminarHonestly, it took me a while to see where Icarus was in the landscape. It's very subtle, almost invisible, and clearly not the main point of attraction. I feel more compelled to look at the farmer than I do to look at Icarus.
The same happens in the poem. Icarus is the last element to be noticed in the imagery. It's a very explicit line from one work of art to the other, and yet they both manage to find their individuality in the subtle different characteristics of each artist.
Daily life truly is more celebrated in both than the epic of mythology.
In my own personal analysis, I see this as a message to people, and their usual thirst for power. Most people are easily bribed, by whatever it is that they want. The humbles (not in spirit but in possessions) and poor normally fall because they lack what is offered. But even the rich and powerful, having plenty of it, always want more. Ambition is human nature, at least, and we all go for a taste of what we want the most, when it is offered to us.
There are, of course, those with self control and those who want it too much. Icarus is one of those people. He's thirst took him too far. There's actually a current expression based on him, where we fear for someone's ambition and we warn them "Don't fly too close to the sun..."
I guess what happens here is when you take it too far, you end up losing all you had. Not only, in Icarus case, the freedom of flying and his own life, but also the attention of others.
When it gets to a point where the eagerness takes over you in a selfish manner, no one will feel sorry for you when it fails.
When the great ones fall, it's always a big dive that they take alone. Their fellow companions will keep flying until they fall too or land safely, and the people beneath them will simply not care at all.
The road to power you must walk alone. And thus, alone you are when you get lost... And the farmer keeps ploughing.
A very intense poem and painting, a very rough truth behind it, and the common human nature all over both.
Filipa Vieira, nº46566
I really enjoyed this poem. Williams was able to describe a mythical legend in a different way than usual. He focuses the poem on the landscape around Icarus, rather than on him. This creates an effect of relativity - the fall of Icarus is made smaller by this perspective, making us realize that great events on History might be not that relevant to the day-to-day activity of the Natural world. Icarus is just an element of the landscape, an event as important as the plowing of fields. The mythological element is joined together with the real world of Nature and human life as something natural, unlike what usually happens with mythical creatures.
ResponderEliminarTeresa Garrocho 46056