Myth - Art - Poetry

1. Myth - Art - Poetry Myths – inspiration for poetry and visual art for millennia Example: The Story of Icarus....

2. Anthony Van Dyke

3. Carlo Saraceni

4. Herbert Draper

5. Odilon Redon

6. Marc Chagall

7. Kent Lew

8. Henri Matisse

9. Pieter Brueghel

10. Landscape with the Fall of Icarus William Carlos Williams According to Brueghelwhen Icarus fellit was spring a farmer was ploughinghis fieldthe whole pageantry of the year wasawake tinglingwith itself sweating in the sunthat meltedthe wings' wax unsignificantlyoff the coastthere was a splash quite unnoticedthis wasIcarus drowning

11. Musee des Beaux Arts W. H. Auden About suffering they were never wrong,The old Masters: how well they understoodIts human position: how it takes placeWhile someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along;How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waitingFor the miraculous birth, there always must beChildren who did not specially want it to happen, skatingOn a pond at the edge of the wood:They never forgotThat even the dreadful martyrdom must run its courseAnyhow in a corner, some untidy spotWhere the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer's horseScratches its innocent behind on a tree. In Breughel's Icarus, for instance: how everything turns awayQuite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman mayHave heard the splash, the forsaken cry,But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shoneAs it had to on the white legs disappearing into the greenWater, and the expensive delicate ship that must have seenSomething amazing, a boy falling out of the sky,Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.

12. To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Triumph Anne Sexton Consider Icarus, pasting those sticky wings on,testing that strange little tug at his shoulder blade,and think of that first flawless moment over the lawnof the labyrinth. Think of the difference it made!There below are the trees, as awkward as camels;and here are the shocked starlings pumping past and think of innocent Icarus who is doing quite well.Larger than a sail, over the fog and the blast of the plushy ocean, he goes. Admire his wings!Feel the fire at his neck and see how casuallyhe glances up and is caught, wondrously tunnelinginto that hot eye. Who cares that he fell back to the sea?See him acclaiming the sun and come plunging downwhile his sensible daddy goes straight into town.

13. Where to start: • Generally, it’s a good idea to start with the myths themselves – once you find one that you like, you’ll need to find out whether there are poems and visual artworks based on that myth (please note that poetry and visual art needs to be “published” – no amateur hour material). • If you select a myth and find there is no poetry and/or no visual art based on that myth, go back and select another one (you should have no trouble finding material for most of the major myths).