After reading
all of these poems I came to the conclusion that three of them tended to lean
towards a common theme, which was loneliness, neglect, and isolation. I noted
in a previous blog that there was this similarity between “The Great Figure”
and “Red Wheel Barrow,” but I also think that this theme exists in the poem
“Landscape With the Fall of Icarus.” William Carlos Williams refers to Icarus
as “a splash quite unnoticed,” which sort of dehumanizes him and makes him seem
insignificant and isolated. Referring to him as a “splash” rather than a boy
makes the reader care less about the subject, and therefore make the reader
feel more like the farmer in the picture, who also only sees him as a splash.
This is much like how the figure 5 in the poem “The Great Figure” goes
unnoticed, or “unheeded” as Williams puts it. Calling the figure 5 “unheeded”
and depicting it as “rumbling through a dark city” makes it look just as
neglected as Icarus was. I think it would be interesting to write my essay
about these poems and the neglectful nature of them, because they all seem to
be touching on that subject.
OK, so it seems like you're interested in larger issues of perception/lack of perception in the poem--
ReplyDeletethe poet, you seem to argue, identifies us with people who don't see.... but what is the point of writing the poem....? does he see? and what does he see?
You do a nice close reading here on the splash:
"this dehumanizes him and makes him seem insignificant and isolated." try to keep this idea in mind as well as the way the poet sees--play them off one another.