Question

Compare and contrast W. H. Auden's "Musée des Beaux Arts" and William Carlos Williams's "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus." What similarities and differences do you see in the way the poets present ideas to the reader?

Answer 1

Compare and contrast W. H. Auden's "Musée des Beaux Arts" and William Carlos Williams's "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus."

What similarities and differences do you see in the way the poets present ideas to the reader?

The most important similarity between W.H. Auden and William Carlos Williams' poems is that both describe Pieter Brueghel's painting Landscape With The Fall of Icarus. Both poets illustrate the scene and all its surroundings with detail. Both poets exemplify with imagery the painting's scene and what it depicts.

Nevertheless, the poets do differ in other elements:

• Auden presents his poem using free verse and divides it into two long stanzas without any rhyme. Although William Carlos Williams doesn't use rhyme either, he keeps a more traditional construction by dividing the poem into six stanzas with three lines in each.

• Auden reflects on suffering and the burden of routine depicted in the painting with more delicate and meditative observations. He mentions Icarus in the second stanza and contemplates his psyche in a deeper way. Williams, on the other hand, presents his ideas in a concise manner. He states the reader the facts and describes the painting with concrete examples. He mentions Icarus since the first stanza but doesn't concentrate on what he might have felt or what others might be feeling in that precise moment.

• Auden sensed the painting and tells the reader his experience when he saw it.  Williams is an observer. He tells the reader a descriptive summary of what he saw without delving into his inner experience and thoughts.