"Musee des Beaux Arts" by W.H. Auden

Allusions

"Musee des Baux Arts"

Brussels museum

"Icarus" Greek myth

"The Old Masters" European artists pre-1800s

Point of View

3rd Person narration

Imagery

"...reverently passionately waiting"

"...skating on a pond at the edge of the wood..."

"...some untidy spot..."

"... the sun shone as it had on the white legs disappearing into he green water..."

His dramatic descriptions also allow you to "slip" into his mind and analyze how he views the art work.

Also, the shift between apathetic and unsympathetic word choice solidify the idea that the death of one person does not matter to most people.

Diction

Form

Auden uses language that has to do with children because they are easily absorbed into simple activities, leaving them distracted from the things occuring around them.

Lines 1-3 all have 10 syllables. This may lead you to believe he is setting a parameter, but line four goes against all traditional meters. As the poem continues, the lines begin to sporadically break.

Poem:

About suffering they were never wrong,

The 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;

How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting

For the miraculous birth, there always must be

Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating

On a pond at the edge of the wood;

They never forgot

That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course

Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot

Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torture's horse

Scratches its innocent behind a tree.

In Breaghel'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 on the white legs disappearing into the green

Water; andthe 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.

Paraphrase

In Breaghel's "Icarus", Icarus falls from the sky and everyone and everything turns their backs. The ploughman may have heard, but chose to go about his work. The people on a nearby ship had to have witnessed his plight, but they had places to be and simply sailed on.

Auden is walking in Musee des Beaux Arts and notices the works of the Grand ol' Masters. This causes him to realize that their portrayal of suffering and its relation to society was never wrong. While people are suffering, others go about their regular lives as if nothing is happening. While the elderly are desperately hoping for a miracle, the young live without concern. Those killed due to their religions and beliefs are unnoticed.

Title

Auden uses the name of the museum as a way to invite us into his world.

"Musee des Beaux Arts" by W.H. Auden

Connotation

Symbolism

"...a boy..." Icarus is described as just a boy. This could mean that he could be absolutely anybody and the result could be just the same.

"...miraculous birth..." This could easily be thought as the birth of Jesus Christ

Figurative Language

"...splash..." Onomatopoeia

"...how everything turns away" Hyperbole

"horse scratches its innocent behind a tree" Personification

Shifts

Attitude

The speaker is nonchalant, never showing true emotion, but rather simply stating facts.



The main shift in the pom is between the two stanzas and tell two different stories.

Stanza 1: General statement about life

Stanza 2: Death of Icarus

Title

Theme

The title sets the setting of the poem to better understand what exactly Auden is talking about.

In the world around us, suffering is a common thing. However, choosing to notice it or help is incredibly rare.

While others suffer, the world around us keeps going.