Through the centuries, ancient Greek myths have attracted the attention of many authors, artists, and sculptors. One of the more highly regarded and most popular myth is that of the fable of Daedalus and his son Icarus. Daedalus and Icarus were being kept on the island of Crete by King Minos. Daedalus had invented many creations that had caught the attention of King Minos leading him and his son to work for the King and creating useful inventions inside a cave near the palace. After staying in the cave for so long, Icarus wanted to leave the cave and go into the “real world”. When his father had been rejected by the King to let Icarus leave, he created wings out of light metal, seagull feathers, and wax for them to fly out of the cave. Daedalus had told Icarus too not fly too high to the sun or the wax would melt, and not to fly too …show more content…
The poem shows a different perspective on the myth, giving it more dimension. In the first stanza, it states, “According to Brueghel when Icarus fell it was spring.” This shows that Williams was referring to Brueghel’s painting and it sets the ambience to a very comforting, graceful, and sunny day. On the third and fourth stanzas, it says, “The whole pageantry of the year was awake tingling near. The edge of the sea concerned with itself.” This statement is almost foreshadowing why no one is going to notice Icarus drowning.It said “The whole pageantry of the year was awake” showing that the whole pageantry was up and doing their normal weekly routine. On the last two stanzas, it says, “Unsignificantly off the coast there was a splash quite unnoticed. This was Icarus drowning.” In those last stanzas it says that Icarus’s death was overlooked by everyone because they were so focused in their own lives just how Brueghel illustrated the painting in which no one was paying attention to