Daedulus+and+Icarus+Chaeri

The tone of the poem is fairly tranquil and ignorant. This has to do with Brueghel's comment on how even though some bad things happen in this world, most of them happen at random times and hence we are incognizant of it; we live our lives as we did yesterday. The last two lines especially reflect the calmness of the poem: "Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky, had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on." I imagined the falling of Icarus to be dramatic and disastrous; however, this specific line does not describe such incident to be catastrophic and scary, but rather it is merely "a boy falling out of the sky". Not to mention, the ship had somewhere to go and sailed calmly on, which shows how ignorant the world is about the "small accident". Furthermore, In lines 3 and 4, it emphasizes on the cluelessness of the world: "how it takes place/While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along ". The painting that we saw earlier today comes into my mind when I read this line because overall, everything looked so peaceful and undisturbed. Because of it's tranquility, I did not notice the fall of Icarus anywhere in the painting until I had to narrow my eyes and examine every corner of the painting. I was in the same position as the "someone" described in this specific line: totally occupied by the calmness of the world to care for those "little accidents".
 * 1. What is the tone of the poem? Support your answer with two specific details from the text**

The poem strongly reflects Brueghel's painting, mainly because of its calm and relaxed tone. For example, in the painting, there is a plowman walking by, performing his everyday routine, totally clueless about what just happened (the fall of Icarus) even though he is aware of the fact that bad things happen in this world. Lines 2,3 and 4 describe such portion of the paintingThe Old Masters; how well, they understood Its human position; how it takes place While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along The sun which covers the entire land like a blanket in the painting is also portrayed in the poem, "the sun shone /As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green/Water". The ship, which continues its journey is also described in the poem as a "expensive delicate ship" with a sense of purpose. Just like the painting, the poem barely focuses on Icarus and his fall; hence, if the readers did not know about the incident beforehand, they may have never noticed such accident in both the painting and the poem.  3. What is the "human position" of suffering in this poem? 4. Do you agree with Auden's reading of human nature here? Why or why not? When I first read the poem, I noticed Brueghel's use of enjambment to make the poem sound continuous and long. Furthermore the poet's choice of words is simple and casual. There are no difficult or complex words; hence, it was enjoyable for me to read. The words like splash sound like its meaning so I thought it was interesting how the poet used the word splash instead of using "fall". The word splash attributes to the tone of the poem: ignorance. Splash sounds like a word that is happy and upbeat. It is a fun word and reminds me of little kids jumping into the pool excitedly. This is the attitude that the humans in the poem have towards the fall of Icarus; it is merely a "splash".
 * 2. Look carefully at the Brueghel painting (from the Musée des Beaux Arts in Brussels) for the details described in the poem. Do you see other details in the painting that seem consistent with the tone of the poem?**
 * 5. Briefly describe your first impressions regarding the author’s diction and/or syntax.**
 * 7. Have each group member point out at least two poetic elements in the poem -- they all need to be different. Share out loud first, then write your different points.**
 * Masculine Rhyme: How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting/Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating
 * Internal Rhyme: disappearing into the green