Explication "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus"

Summary-

The poem “Landscape with the Fall of Icarus” is a poem describing Brueghel’s original painting “The Fall of Icarus”, and how Icarus is depicted as isolated and disregarded. Williams is focusing on the idea that everything around Icarus is “concerned with itself” that no one notices when he falls to his death, and that it all happens “quote unnoticed.” He is making a statement that people don’t see beyond their daily lives enough to notice significant things that go on around them. Williams keeps a theme which is consistent with many other of his works, which is the theme of isolation.

Analysis-

William Carlos Williams uses a lot of line breaks in his poem in order to convey his meaning. He gives certain words or phrases their own line such as “unsignificantly,” “a splash quite unnoticed,” and “the whole pageantry.” Putting these in their own line gives them more meaning by themselves, and contributes to the theme of not seeing. Describing the year as “pageantry” for example makes everything that the townspeople are doing (such as the farmer ploughing) seem like a sort of empty show or display. And even though all of this work they are doing is empty, they still don’t notice Icarus falling, and he is described merely as “a splash quite unnoticed,” even though this event should be significant. Describing the “whole pageantry of the year” as being “concerned with itself” also contributes to the theme of how people are too self absorbed and unseeing.