Musee de Beaux Arts Analysis

Archit Shukla
C. Srygley
AP Literature
17 January 2012

Musee des Beaux Arts by 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 may Have 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.

Initial: Initially, I feel a sense of sorrow amongst the elderly when reading this poem. Auden is referencing a painting by Breughel in which a scene is painted that is also referenced in the poem. The painting depicts a man tending to his horse and another man, on the horizon, drowning. The poem states that the elderly face the battle of time and age and understand their nature; however, when noticing the young enjoy their youth, the elderly are reminded of a time much like the children they observe.
Paraphrase:
They are never wrong about suffering,The old Masters: how well they understandThe human position: how it takes placeWhile someone is casually walking, or eating normally;How, when the old are respectfully, passionately waitingFor the phenomenal birth, there always must beChildren specifically don’t want it to happen, skatingOn a pond at the edge of the wood:They never forgotThat even the dreadful passionate death must run its courseAnyhow in a corner, some messy 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 simply from the horror; the plowman mayHave hear a splash or the apparent cry.But for him the failure was not important; 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.
SWIFTT:
S: With regards to the title, “Musee de Beaux Arts” is French for Museum of Fine Arts. This title also introduces and alludes to Breughel’s Icarus, a painting for which this poem is heavily based on. In terms of true syntax, the sentences are rather long with one entire stanza written as a sentence. Both stanzas are similar in sentence structure—heavy usage of compound-complex clauses.
W: The word choice is basic; however, instead of using “especially” the author uses “specially” to convey a clearer meaning. Secondly, the ploughman is seemingly archaic in terms of the rest of the word usage.I: In terms of imagery, there is a reference to the miraculous birth which could be a reference to Christ; however, imagery is not fully present in the poem.
F: Furthermore, there is no noticeable figurative language—no evidence of simile, metaphor, tropes, or personifications.
T: With regards to tone, the author uses a “free-flowing” style to maintain a cool and detached aspect. In that sense, the tone is rather dull or monotonous.
T: Additionally, the theme revolves around lack of human interaction or apathy. It seems as though this poem describes the nature of humans to ignore the changes in their surroundings.
Final: With this analysis, I see that my initial response was wrong in every extent. “Musee de Beaux Arts” is a two stanza complex poem that illustrates mankind’s apathy towards a change in their surroundings. If the objective or issues does not concern one personally, then there is no interest in what happens amongst others. There is also the reference to the portrait by Breughel which downplays Icarus’s—and by addition mankind—failure in ambition.