Auden, whilst looking at the suffering that Icarus experiences, shows that life’s struggles are insignificant:
the expensive delicate ship that must have seen
Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky,
Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.
A rare sight, a boy falling out of the sky, is ignored as life runs its course showing that the death was not ‘important’.
It is noticeable that both poems have a turning point. Wordsworth first went to Peele Castle in a summer break, a time when he knew Peele Castle to be a perfect ‘calm’:
“Thy form was sleeping”. The first eight stanzas recall this time and evoke a scene of blissful harmony and tranquillity. The second half of the poem looks at the distress of his brother’s death that ‘hath humanized [his] soul’: The death of his brother has opened his eyes to the real world. Wordsworth’s poetic ideals have been stripped.
Auden displays this turning point by using two simple stanzas. In the first stanza children are ‘skating’ on ice, not knowing the danger that could befall them. The second stanza is a reaction to the ‘disaster’ of the death of Icarus. Auden shows that fate is unavoidable and no one can escape its grasp. We see this as Icarus falling through the ice to his death.
When looking at the circumstances of when and why the two poems were written the reader can find many points to compare and contrast.
Wordsworth’s very eighteenth poem is written as a response to his brother’s death and all the emotions that he experienced in 1805 and how changed he is because of it. The romantic poetry of the time was all a reaction to industrialisation and the loss of nature and stale and artificial styles of writing which is noticeable in Wordsworth’s poem. John, Wordsworth’s brother died at sea and left an everlasting mark in Wordsworth, because of this we see the poem to be very personal and flowing with Wordsworth’s emotions. This is even noticeable in the title selected by Wordsworth, Elegiac Stanzas meaning mourning verse. The reader can almost experience the feelings that Wordsworth is going through the flowing romantic verse that Wordsworth writes.
Auden’s 1939 poem was written in the modern, ironic 20’s and 30’s era. This was a period where no firm set of beliefs were known, there were radical views of sexuality, people were very sceptical of all religious beliefs and people had strong left wing, anti fascist anti nazi commitments. This poem appears to be written in the museum, which gives the poem its title. It also seems to be in response to the nazi activities of the period. Auden is rejecting political involvement because he has become more interested in his religious beliefs. The poem hints at Auden’s involvement in the conflict between meaningful events and an oblivious world. This is noticeable by many references to Christ such as the ‘miraculous birth’ and ‘the dreadful martyrdom’. Auden portrays Icarus as a symbol of man’s aspiring powers. His plummeting from the heavens symbolises the element of despair of the ‘suffering’ endured in life. Auden’s poem does not have the intense passion and emotion of Wordsworth’s poem. This is due to the fact that Auden has not experienced what he is writing about so he cannot convert his own emotions into verse whereas Wordsworth experienced the death of his brother first hand.
The reader can see that both poems convey a strong sense of suffering, but look at it in different ways. Wordsworth’s poem looks at Wordsworth coming to terms with his own individual loss: “A power is gone, which nothing can restore;”
Wordsworth, throughout the poem, conveys the sense of suffering by using ‘I’ to create an emotional and personal piece. Wordsworth looks at his own ‘distress’ and the ‘delusion’ that he is suffering from e.g. Peele Castle and his brother’s death. He starts to get a proper view of what the real world is like. Wordsworth shows that an individual coming to terms with the loss of a loved one is hard to get over and is an emotional time. He accepts his own youthful ideals.
In contrast to Wordsworth, Auden does not look at the suffering of a loved one but someone who no one has any real connection to, that is Icarus. Auden shows suffering to be an important part of life and the poem by inverting the word order of the first line putting ‘About suffering’ first. Auden shows that Icarus’s death is seen as just a part of daily life and goes unnoticed, that nobody cares if it does not directly affect them. Auden explores the enduring human response to tragedy and challenges the accepted categorization of ordinary life experiences. Auden conveys the sense of human suffering by using broken up lines and trite rhymes to show how cruel life can be and how short lived life’s pleasures can be: “shone”, “on”.
Both poems have links to very different paintings but the poets seem to have similar responses to the poems and reasons for choosing them. Peele Castle in a Storm shows the castle being overrun by a storm with a ship in the foreground being tossed and turned by the ‘deadly swell’. Wordsworth picked this picture due to its relevance of his brother dying at sea. He responds to it by agreeing with it by painting his own picture of the scene:
“No motion but the moving tide”. There is no ship in Wordsworth’s painting; he is viewing it after his brother has died. Beaumont’s painting, with its scenes of dangerous conflict; turbulence and survival are more realistic. The painting helps Wordsworth to release and also control his feelings of grief and shows him what real life can be.
Auden’s poem also helps the reader to visualise the suffering that is felt by Icarus. Auden agrees with the ideas that the painting contains. For example; the ploughman in the foreground, not stopping to even look at Icarus. The painter believes that the failure of the harvest is much more important than the ‘not important’ death of Icarus. Both Auden and Wordsworth see the paintings as realistic and develop the ideas they contain.
When looking at the moral growth obtained from both poems, comparing and contrasting can be applied to both.
Wordsworth’s poem shows that the loss of a loved one is a very emotional and that a ‘deep distress’ is felt. This is very much true in real life, as a close relative will always be missed.
Auden’s poem is also comparable to real life and projects the idea that a death will go unnoticed if it does not directly affect someone: “Where the dogs go on with their doggy life”.
If a thousand people die of starvation in Africa, we do not bat an eyelid. We see this relates to the Holocaust at the time of Auden and the casual acceptance he sees. In contrast to Wordsworth’s poem Auden shows that death and suffering are part of life and there is no way to get around it.
Wordsworth looks for consolation in a beautiful scene and nature as a kind, restorative force. Wordsworth evolves his feelings throughout the poem so that eventually he speaks about his loss to actually come to terms with it. Auden uses the old painting with the old myth of Icarus with a more modern foreground to represent an overview of the nature of human suffering over time. Wordsworth accomplishes this by looking at the common trend of people mourning the death of loved ones. By looking at the painting, Auden reflects on the nature of pain and suffering. He sees them as having an essential place in the order of human existence, so much so that we have taken it for granted.
Both poets interpret very different paintings to concentrate on suffering. Auden interprets the ploughman, the shepherd and the ship all to be carrying on with life. Auden captures the disproportional effects of the poem, to show the true meanings of life. Wordsworth interprets the picture as an interpretation of his image of Peele Castle; he commends Beaumont’s painting because it is full of the wisdom and controlled passion that he feels. Wordsworth develops the idea that the ship is like every persons’ life, the struggle to survive.
Wordsworth believes that we should all be like the ship in Beaumont’s painting, struggling to avoid fate and suffering. Auden’s poem is a complete contrast to this and has a much more negative social attitude, encouraging us to accept our fate and suffering as the people carry on ‘walking dully along’.
The reader can see that both poems are written in very different styles and contain very different vocabulary. Wordsworth’s poem is written in a very romantic style, with intense emotion and powerful imagery. In contrast to this Auden’s poem is written in a very ironic style with internal and trite rhymes that displace any sense of pattern. Wordsworth’s romantic poem is not unlike the other romantic poems of the period with their increasing interest in nature and the association of human moods with the moods of nature. Wordsworth writes in a very formal, personal and sombre tone, achieved by repetitive use of I, making the poem personal. Wordsworth uses slow, deliberate verse movement, the careful avoidance of metaphorical phrases and the balancing of word against word, phrase against phrase all relate to the poems romantic, eighteenth century properties. This is also noticeable by the formal layout of the poem with its fifteen stanzas all with regular line lengths and regular patterns and ab, ab, ab… rhyme schemes. The use of poetic diction, personification and the use of exclamation marks all add to the dramatic effects of the poem, using the landscape to generate all the human emotions ‘not [ceasing] to smile’. Auden’s poem has two very irregular sentences in the form of two stanzas. Auden uses trite rhymes, banal vocal and irregular line lengths and rhyme schemes to add to his impersonal and colloquial peace:
Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the
Torturer’s horse
Throughout the poem Auden deals with serious matter in very chatty, philosophical tone. Auden is speaking not singing in the poem, he uses slang terms in a very speculative flat piece.
Wordsworth’s Elegiac Stanzas is a highly moving and consoling piece. The poem itself is very emotional, formal and orthodox. The poem provides an outlet for the distress he feels, and acts as a source of comfort for him. Wordsworth is able to come to terms with the death of his brother. We see that there is much mourning for Wordsworth’s brother John due to the close relationship they shared. Further investigation into Wordsworth’s background shows him to be something of a liar. At the same time to writing Elegiac Stanzas, in his autobiography Wordsworth, contradicts the ideas put forward by his poem.
Auden’s Musee des Beaux Arts is not as moving as Wordsworth’s poem although it does have some moving aspects, such as the honest simple views that it contains that gives the reader something to relate to. In a complete contrast to Wordsworth’s poem we see that Musee des Beaux Arts is not consoling. Auden writes about a serious matter but conveys it in nonchalant and sometimes disturbing ways, the death of Christ for example. The poem is very thought provoking, leaving the reader to make up his or her own mind offers no consolation, the ship ‘[sailing] calmly on’. In contrast to Wordsworth’s poem Musee des Beaux Arts shows no mourning for Icarus, as it did not directly affect anyone.
In conclusion, after looking at the poems Musee des Beaux Arts by W. H. Auden and Elegiac Stanzas by William Wordsworth and the factual evidence that surrounds them the reader observes many similarities and differences in the poems. One such example is the different portraits of death and suffering by the two poets and the mourning that follows. It is also noticeable that both poets have managed to find similar subject matter in the very different paintings that both poets feed off. The difference in the poems that immediately catches the reader’s eye is the differences in style between the two poems, romantic vs. ironic.
Tom Beach