Landscape+With+the+Fall+of+Icarus

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The fall of Icarus is a well known story from Greek mythology. The unruly son, Icarus, escapes from imprisonment with his father by way of extremely fragile, crafted wings. The father warns Icarus that if he gets too close to the sun, the wax holding the wings together will melt and Icarus will no longer be able to fly. Once in flight, Icarus is too caught in the moment to follow his father's directions. He flies too close to the sun, his wings melt, and he falls to his death in the sea. The poem based on this story and the picture to go along with it demonstrates many characteristics from the Modernism period. The author, William Carlos Williams, personifies Modernism with his life and personality. His other works are very similar to his one, and other authors are either similar or completely different.

The story of Icarus is extremely depressing by itself. This poem, accompanied by the picture, just makes it worse. Modernism was marked by an extreme loss of faith, loneliness, and isolation (Worthington). There are other traits as well, but this poem exhibits the ones just listed most perfectly. In the painting and in the poem, it is spring time. The farmers are planting and plowing. The new plants are starting to grow and wake from their winter slumber (Williams). Near the edge of the sea, there is a splash (Williams). It is insignificant. No one notices. Icarus is drowning. He is utterly alone, and no one notices. This poem makes life appear minuscule when compared to the rest of the world. The poem also slightly shows the individuality that a character in a story or poem would generally strive for during this literature period (Worthington). It shows this by letting the reader know the everyone in the world is doing their own thing during the time of Icarus's fall, yet this poem focuses in on Icarus alone. The grammar is not what one might be used to. This goes along with the experimentation with grammar that occurred during the Modernist period (Worthington). A "distortion of perception", another trait of Modernism, is used as well. When one reads the poem, at first it looks as if it is just a nice day on the farm. Then the reader realizes at the end that Icarus has just drowned.

William Carlos Williams's life greatly affected his work and this poem especially. Williams's mother studied as a painter in Paris (Costello). Maybe his mother was his inspiration to write a poem that went along with The Fall of Icarus painting. Williams was always afraid that he would go out of this world and no one would notice ("Landscape With The Fall of Icarus). This would explain why he chose to wrote a poem about The Fall of Icarus painting. The painting itself shows Icarus drowning and no one noticing him. It would be logical to think that he wrote this poem in the way he did because of his fear of leaving this world without leaving a trace.

Williams began work on his own style after realizing that he disagreed with T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound's works ("Landscape With The Fall of Icarus"). He said they were too European, and he wanted to be something unique. He wanted something that was distinctly American. His grammar is very unique in all of his poems, and considering he has made it in as a Modernist poet, it is logical to assume that he conquered his goals. Punctuation is missing. Sentences are split up and separated into different stanzas. The grammar is much harder to follow than even Carl Sandburg's "I Am The People, The Mob" and Bernard Malamud's "The Magic Barrel." He focused on everyday life and wrote simply about the simply things unlike Carl Sandburg who focused just on inequality and the plight of the working man. His poems are generally short and do not contain many complicated words. Just for example, In "The Red Wheelbarrow", he uses 4 words per stanza, and there are four stanzas. It is short, simple, and to the point. This is his style.

Williams Carlos Williams is famous for his short and simple poems that convey so much meaning. "The Landscape of The Fall of Icarus" shows many aspects of Modernism. The writer himself affected his poems by trying to become something new and make a new, American style of poetry. His poems differ greatly from other poets of the time. Modernism may converge a large number of writers into one period, but Williams has succeeded in making his poetry stand out amongst them all.

Costello, Bonnie. "William Carlos Williams in a World of Painters." //Boston Review — Home//. Boston Review, 7 Jan. 2007. Web. 02 May 2010. .

"Landscape With The Fall of Icarus." //Poets.org - Poetry, Poems, Bios & More//. New Directions Publishing Corp. Web. 02 May 2010. .

"William Carlos Williams." //Poets.org - Poetry, Poems, Bios & More//. Academy of American Poets. Web. 02 May 2010. .

Worthington, Leslie. "Characteristics of Modernism." //SOCRATES//. Troy University, 8 May 2007. Web. 02 May 2010. .

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William Carlos Williams applies his unconventional, and therefore Modern, style to his poem “Landscape With the Fall of Icarus”. The poem is an ekphrasis, a literary interpretation of a work of art, of the Pieter Bruegel painting of the same name. Williams’s style includes irregular rhythm, a complete lack of a rhyme scheme, and strange capitalization and punctuation (Landscape). Also, Williams addresses themes of individuality, a common undertone of all or most works of Modernism (Lorcher).

As a Modernist, Williams sought to break the norms of traditional poetry (Lorcher). One of the most prominent and noticeable of these revolutionary devices is his lack of punctuation and capitalization of words. Williams often used this approach in his poems, as seen in his most acclaimed and widely read poem, “The Red Wheel Barrow” (Red). This technique allows for several different interpretations of the work. For example, consider the following quote.

“… ploughing his field the whole pageantry

of the year was awake tingling near

the edge of the sea concerned with itself…” (Landscape).

Though a break in stanza may indicate to the reader a break in thought, a lack of punctuation leaves it open-ended and for the reader to interpret however they see fit. Between the first and second quoted stanzas, one could potentially continue thought uninterrupted. This would lead the reader to think that the word “pageantry” is a modifier of the mentioned “year”. However, another person might see the pageantry as the farmer’s ploughing of his field. Another reader, also, may even reference the painting by Bruegel. The pageantry could possibly be in reference to the people on the shore or on the ships depicted in the painting (Bruegel).

A similar possibility of several different interpretations from the quoted stanzas falls between the second and third quoted stanzas. The last word of the second stanza, “near”, could be continued over into the third stanza to create the feeling of being near the sea. However, it could be viewed alternatively as a continuation of the second stanza adding commas to have several descriptions of the year: awake, tingling, and near. The list of possible interpretations goes on and on…

Williams’s lack of capitalization, as seen in nearly all of his poems, conveys a sense of the “common man”. This commonality that Williams portrays with his writers addresses the theme of individuality, a common subject matter found in works of Modernism. Therefore, through his poem, Williams promotes individuality while breaking normal conventions for poetic structure and form, securing this work as one of the Modern period of literature.

As a work of symbolism, Williams attempts to warn against an impending lack of individuality to come in the future. In the poem, Icarus can be seen as humanity’s individuality. As he soars, as seen in the greek myth, he flies confidently towards the sun. As he approaches the sun, the wax holding his wings together melts, and he plummets towards the sea. In the poem, the sea is a symbol for conformity, into which Icarus, human’s individuality, falls. Williams attempts, through this poem, to preserve the individuality of man through an early warning. He attempts to preserve the individuality seen in Modernism.

Williams’s life was a big influence upon his writing. As a child, he grew up in an environment conducive to literature and the arts (Poetry). As he grew older, he studied medicine and became a doctor (Academy). He practiced medicine for the whole time that he was a writer, and he was influenced by the events, people, and objects around him (Academy). Due to his childhood of art, Williams enjoyed art in his adult life. Upon seeing Bruegel’s painting, Williams, naturally, wrote down what he saw. Art, being what he was dealing with at the time of this poems conception, was a big influence upon his writing of the poem.

As he became an influential writer, Williams was introduced to another prominent writer of the time, Ezra Pound (Academy). Together, the two pooled their beliefs on writing and founded the style of Imagism (Academy). This influenced the writing of “Landscape With the Fall of Icarus”, seeing as Williams is attempting to form an image in the minds of his readers. This would be a simple task, seeing as he is describing an image through the poem.

Williams establishes through writing a new and strange form which promotes individuality. In these senses, Williams is a true Modernist. His life, growing up in a generation of other Modernists going through similar historical circumstances, was a major influence on his writing style and addressed themes.

Bruegel, Pieter. //Landscape With the Fall of Icarus.// 1558. Musees Royaux Des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium. //Wikipedia//. Wikipedia, 19 Mar. 2009. Web. 5 May 2010. .

Lorcher, Trent. "Modernism in Literature: What Is Modernism?" //Bright Hub//. 26 Dec. 2009. Web. 26 May 2010. .

The Academy of American Poets. "William Carlos Williams." //Poets.org - Poetry, Poems, Bios & More//. The Academy of American Poets. Web. 26 May 2010. .

Williams, William C. "Landscape With the Fall of Icarus." //Poets.org//. The Academy of American Poets. Web. 26 May 2010. .

Williams, William C. "The Red Wheelbarrow." //Poets.org - Poetry, Poems, Bios & More//. Web. 27 May 2010. .