Musée des Beaux Arts (Poem Summary)

Poem Summary

Lines 1-2

The poem opens with a very general statement which establishes the distinguishing quality of the first section of the poem (that is, generalization). Auden does this by categorizing all artists of the Renaissance period into one group, “Old Masters.” By disregarding their country of origin, Flemish artist versus Italian painters for instance, and their pictorial depiction, the “common” or “everyday” scenes of many Flemish artists as opposed to the human suffering (or, the suffering of Christ) popular with Italian painters, the poet establishes a broad historical perspective. In doing so, the poem implies a universal truth — that all artists agree upon the significance and understanding of suffering, and as the opening line states, that their perspective is “never wrong.”

Lines 3-4

Here the poet elaborates on the Old Masters’ perspective regarding suffering. The details outlined in these two lines indicate that human suffering is understood chiefly as an individual burden, a burden the rest of the world is oblivious or indifferent to. The actions noted in line 3, of an individual opening a window, or “just walking dully along,” are deliberately banal, trivial, and commonplace. They underscore the indifference society exhibits toward human suffering. The daily side-by-side existence of both extraordinary events of suffering and common experiences is the universal truth the Old Masters recognize and capture in their work.

Lines 5-8

Elaborating on the previous two lines, the poet notes how an extraordinary event, such as the “miraculous birth” of Christ is visually displaced by the seemingly less significant image of children skating on a pond. This perspective is ironic and implies that the poet, like the painters, recognizes that great historic or prophetic events which are often the focus of humanity are less important than those which mark the recurring rhythms of life.

Lines 9-13

These five lines like the previous four, treat an extraordinary event contextually. That is, the “dreadful martyrdom” is placed within the human context of ordinariness. Thus, as a martyrdom occurs, dogs live our their “doggy life.” This juxtaposition of the ordinary and extraordinary suggests a condemnation of humankind’s indifference to human suffering. However, it also forces the viewer/reader to question the accepted distinction between the ordinary and the extraordinary. The poet, like the “Old Master” Brueghel, engages us to recognize the details of daily life, for it is here that extraordinary events of suffering and miracles occur. The extraordinary events, then, are the children skating, or the animal stirring.

The flat, colloquial language the poet employs, for instance such phrase as “anyhow in a corner,” and “dogs go on with their doggy life,” is deliberately unpoetic and suggests that the speaker is discussing a well-known notion. Recalling a familiar idea links back to the opening lines of the poem and the poet’s assertion that a universally recognized and accepted “truth” regarding human suffering exists.

Lines 14-15

At this point in the poem, Auden moves from the general to the specific. In the second section, the poet dwells upon a particular canvas, Brueghel’s Icarus, a work which hangs in the Musée des Beaux Arts in Brussels. This painting, as suggested in these two lines, contains a visual representation of the blasé or detached attitude of humankind discussed in the previous lines. Note how the indifference of humankind is expressed by their actions as “everything turns away” in a “leisurely” fashion from the disaster. Thus, in this section the implied indifference noted in the first section of the poem is made explicit.

Despite their seeming differences, the extraordinary events alluded to in each section are linked. In the first section, the poet alludes to Christian

events, the Nativity and the Crucifixion. In the second section, the Greek myth of Icarus, a boy whose overwhelming aspirations proved to be his downfall, is depicted. While the events spring from disparate cultures and times, humankind’s response to the events is the same for in all instances the fated implications are ignored.

Lines 16-19

In these four lines, the poem mirrors the painting. Both depict the ploughman and his work in the foreground while the human tragedy of Icarus plunging to his death in regulated to the background. The painting is literally composed in this manner, and the poetic composition is equally as clearly as Icarus is depicted as simply a splash, a cry, a pair of “white legs.” Despite being regulated to the background of the text, the disaster, the martyrdom, the death and suffering are part of the landscape even if those occupying the landscape are oblivious to it. Life fails to romanticize and celebrate such events, and this awareness further suggests that the extraordinary exists within the daily activities of one’s life.

Lines 20-21

The closing lines of the poem continue to meticulously describe Brueghel’s painting. The attention to detail, for instance the ship is defined as both “expensive” and “delicate,” underscores the insignificance of personal tragedy within the scheme of life, and thus implies that the extraordinary exists within ordinary experience. This is the image the poem concludes with for despite the death of Icarus, the sun continues to shine and the ship sails “calmly on” to its preordained destination.

Media Adaptations

• “The Caedman Treasury of Modern Poets Reading Their Own Poetry.” Audio cassette. Audiobooks, order #4322.
• “Tell Me The Truth About Love.” Audio cassette. Audiobooks, order #4430.