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Peter Brueghel’s Landscape with the Fall of Icarus and
Auden’s Musee des Beaux Arts Writing Assignment (10
points possible) Due: Please
see our course calendar This
assignment asks you to do three things: examine a painting in detail, study a
poem until you understand it, and write briefly about what you find. Please do NOT use Web resources for
help—I would far
rather hear about what you discovered.
In addition, there is no right answer. Here’s
what to do: first 1. The link below will take you to a
painting by the Dutch artist Peter Brueghel.
Spend some time really studying the painting because its meaning lies in the details, some very subtle. Something that might help is a brief
explanation of the painting’s title: Landscape
with the Fall of Icarus. You may
have heard of the classical character Icarus; he was the youth who, in order
to fly, glued wings to his body with wax.
Unfortunately he flew so close to the Sun that the wax melted, and he
plunged to his death in the sea. 2. When you feel you understand the
painting, move to W.H. Auden’s poem Musee des Beaux Arts
(translation: Museum of Fine Arts—a
museum that exhibits the masterworks of great artists). But, before reading the poem, imagine that
the poem’s author is on a thoughtful visit to a world-renowned fine arts
museum. While touring the museum, the poet’s attention is
drawn to Peter Brueghel’s painting Landscape
with the Fall of Icarus. The poet stops
to closely examine the painting, trying to understand what the artist is
trying to say. After a bit of
detailed study and reflection, the poet discovers Brueghel’s point and then
attempts to capture this experience with a poem. To understand the poem, I recommend you first read it two or three
times aloud. Next, try to paraphrase
each line of the poem; in other words, try to restate each line in common
language. Time and effort in
paraphrasing should yield an understanding the poem, hopefully accompanied by
the joy of discovery (the “Ahah!” feeling). 3. Finally, write a page or so sharing
your discoveries about the painting and the poem, and what they have to do
with each other. To get started, you
might consider the following: What is
the point of the painting? What theme
or insight is the artist hoping to convey?
What details support this theme or insight? What does the poet discover about the
painting? What lines in the poem suggest this? To what universal human condition does the
poet connect the painting? When you are ready to examine
the painting, please click on this link. |
