Landscape with the Fall of Icarus
According to Brueghel
when Icarus fell
it was spring
a farmer was ploughing
his field
the whole pageantry
of the year was
awake tingling
with itself
sweating in the sun
that melted
the wings' wax
unsignificantly
off the coast
there was
a splash quite unnoticed
this was
Icarus drowning
This is another poem in William Carlos Williams' series on the paintings of Brueghel. Compare his poem about this painting with that of W. H. Auden.
Oil-tempera, 29 inches x 44 inches. Museum of Fine Arts, Brussels.
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