The poem is a profound meditation on how life continues even in the face of appalling tragedy, the individual but a scratch on the surface of history. Auden to write Mus é e des Beaux Arts after viewing it on a trip to Brussels in 1938. This painting of the Icarus myth, attributed to Bruegel, inspired the poet W.H. It is one of the classic accounts of hubristic behaviour the phrase ‘to fly too close to the sun’ remains part of everyday speech, a warning against over-ambition and bravado. This ancient Greek myth was narrated by the Roman poet Ovid in Metamorphoses and has inspired numerous authors, including Shakespeare, Milton and James Joyce, whose semi-autobiographical character Stephen Dedalus features in Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) and Ulysses (1922). The wax melted, his wings collapsed and he fell fatally into the sea. While escaping, Icarus ignored his father’s instructions to maintain a course between the heavens and the sea and flew too close to the sun. In order that he and his son, Icarus, could escape from Crete, Daedalus had fashioned wings out of feathers held together by beeswax. It was originally built to house the Minotaur, though Daedalus himself had been imprisoned within it for aiding his fellow Athenian Theseus in his mission to kill the monstrous half-man, half-bull. This interpretation is supported by a different version of the myth, in which Daedalus and Icarus escaped from Crete by sailing ship, and Icarus’ ship was wrecked off Samos.Daedalus, an Athenian craftsman, created the Labyrinth for King Minos of Crete. Marie Delcourt, on the other hand, holds that flying symbolises the peak of Daedalus’ achievements in gaining such a high level of technical knowledge.įinally, according to yet another interpretation of the myth, flight could symbolise the great speed of a sailing ship, also considered an invention of Daedalus. Neither too high near the sun, nor too low near the sea, Daedalus counselled, but Icarus paid no heed and his immoderation cost him his life. The didactic character of the myth of Icarus is obvious: the recklessness and thoughtlessness of young men who ignore the advice and experience of their parents, and their elders and betters in general, may have catastrophic effects on their lives.Īlso, there must be measure in all our lives. The myth of Icarus - Various interpretations Icarus’ lifeless body was recognised by Hercules, who delivered it to Daedalus. This was named Icaria in his honour, and the sea around the island was called the Icarian Sea. Icarus fell into the sea near Samos and his body was washed ashore on a nearby islet. When Daedalus realised that his son was not following him as he had asked him to, he began frantically searching for him. He climbed high in the sky, so high that the sun melted the wax, the wings fell apart and Icarus fell into the sea and drowned. Icarus agreed, but he was so thrilled with flying that he got carried away and turned it into a game, ignoring his father’s advice. If, on the other hand, he flew too close to the sun, the heat would melt the wax and destroy the wings. He warned him that if he flew too close to the sea, the spray would soak the feathers, making the wings useless. Icarus tragic deathīefore the flight, Daedalus gave his young son Icarus instructions in how to fly. They used these to fly from their prison, the first flight in history, two thousand years before the Wright Brothers. The cunning Daedalus, however, found a way to escape: he made two pairs of wings from feathers and wax, one for himself and one for Icarus. Icarus and his father Daedalus were imprisoned in the Labyrinth by King Minos, as punishment for the help Daedalus gave Queen Pasiphae and Ariadne, daughter of Minos.
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