Answer:
The poem 'Landscape with the Fall of Icarus' touches upon the Greek tragedy of Icarus. Icarus is the son of Daedalus. Icarus and his father were exiled in Crete. He took flight from imprisonment wearing the fragile wings his father had fashioned for him. Icarus was warned by his father not to go near the sun to keep him safe form the consequence of wax melting.
William C. Williams (1883-1963)
Careless of his father's suggestion, Icarus came to fly higher and higher towards the sun. Ultimately, the heat of the sun melted wings' wax. Then Icarus fell to the sea and died. When he fell
nothing paid attention to his tragic death.
The poem "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus" is about human nature of indifference. The poet takes the reference of mythological character Icarus to talk about human tendency to indifference. When Icarus fell from the sky, it was spring and a farmer was ploughing his field. Similarly, the edge of the sea was concerned with itself. Furthermore, the sun too had no pity upon Icarus. Nobody liked to hear the splash of Icarus drowning. The poem establishes a theme of growing selfishness and individualism among mankind. At present no one has time to think and worry about others' problems. A human is generally defined as a social and cultural being. But under the impact of commercialization and monetary value, a man has no time and interest to be generous, kind and supportive. Fall of Icarus is the fall of humanity. It also signals degrading human values and essence of human living. Both nature and humans behaved Icarus equally. The farmer could support Icarus and keep him alive. Similarly, both the sun and the sea had no sincerity to think about Icarus. The poem is about the journey of human beings from the origin of social being to individual being. In competitive world, a person has no time to turn back and worry about anybody else. Here, Icarus is the representation of ordinary human being.
