All the Poetry...

3/5/2015

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus...click for info

I'm not sure we could ever read enough poetry in the course of a school-year. I'm not even sure what enough poetry is. We have satisfied the curriculum and you are better readers of poetry, so is that enough?

There are many, many more poets, guys, and enough Poems You Must Read to last us for months. There are so many more poetry induced shivers to be had! (Just please go read this right now, because we might not/probably won't have time to do it justice, but just go now, now! and read this.)

But maybe that's the point -- I'm not sure we should ever feel like we've read enough poetry. (This is how I feel -- read this, too)

I have found our poetry unit both incredibly inspiring and somewhat frustrating. I am, as always, impressed and inspired by what you students find in literature, and the series of poems we've studied has been no exception.

A few memorable moments for me have been:

Nyah's in-class reading of "Hate Poem"
The toiling over the extended metaphor projects
Liam's spot on TP-CASTT of "To An Athlete Dying Young"
Alona's insights into "The Summer Day"
The collective gasp and hilarity of the realization of "she being brand new"
How many of you found "Mother to Son" relatable
The look in your eyes with the lines, "Tell me, what is it you plan to do/with your one wild and precious life?"

And what is frustrating is that we have, as mentioned above, only begun to skim the surface. Maybe that's something I'll rethink for next year, or maybe I'll accept the breadth of the curriculum with a Zen-like peace. But for now, I have promises to keep and miles to go before we sleep and miles to go before we sleep.

For this blog post, I'd like you to read, post, and reply.
Let's treat this, as much as we can, like a class discussion. I ask that you stay curious and think less about how accurate or academic your comments sound and think more about how authentic they are.

1. Read "Musee des Beaux Arts" by W.H. Auden. (One of the last poems in your anthology)
2. Post a comment in which you discuss the content of the poem -- what it might mean, how the poet achieves what he does, what is striking, what is memorable, what makes this poem great-with-a-capital-G.
3. Reply to a classmate's post.

* New Critical approach & Reader Response both acceptable.
* No shortcuts or study sites until after your initial reading and post.

Comment & Reply posts DUE by MONDAY, MARCH 9.

56 Comments

Ashley Boothe

3/6/2015 04:10:24 am

This poem, in my personal opinion, is about the concept of ignorance is bliss when it comes to suffering. Everyone in their lives at some point has suffered. It could be the loss of a family member, a friend, a home, motivation, or something. Maybe you lost nothing and suffer in silence because of something beyond your control such as a terminal illness, disability, or a rumor going around about you.

The fact that everyone in the world suffers in some way is a sad thought to think about, so we choose not to think about it. We occupy ourselves in our sports, phones, drawings, books, and movies to take our minds off of things.

We ignore the fact that in the course of 2 months, 4 trans gender teens committed suicide because they were so oppressed and bullied that they couldn't take it anymore. We ignore the fact that in the state of West Virginia, you can be denied a job if you are openly gay. We ignore the fact that our English departments need books for students to use and instead focus on our dresses for prom.

Not that this is entirely a bad thing. It's overwhelming to think about the tragedies that strike our world every day, so we find our own escape. In the poem, we see that despite some unknown form of suffering going on, kids still skated, dogs still gathered in corners living their doggy lives, and everything seems to continue on.

The point is: The world goes on amid tragedy. Nothing should stop for the problems that occur, otherwise the world would never turn. It's something we have to keep in mind, because lets face it, we all get stopped by something every once in awhile. Sometimes, ignorance really is bliss.

Mrs. H

3/7/2015 02:51:26 am

Woo woo, Ashley. Ignorance is bliss literally in the poem, yes?

Ryan Moore

3/9/2015 09:33:12 am

I agree with what you said about how it isn't completely bad that we block out all the tragedies going on in the world. If we were aware and acknowledged all of them we would drown in guilt and destroy ourselves.

Cailin Mosser

3/6/2015 05:41:48 am

W.H. Auden captures the blindness of human nature in this poem. It's like, if a tragedy doesn't effect me or someone I know, then it's none of my business and I don't have to act. Then that's where morals come in. It is morally right to save the drowning child, to help the elderly across the street, but too many times we are caught up with our own lives that we don't take time to notice or time to care.
I agree with Ashley's comment on how we turn our heads to the ugliness of society and try to focus on something pleasing. Everyone does it even if we don't want to admit it. I think it's our duty to stop this trend and acknowledge those that need help rather than turning away.

3/7/2015 02:52:17 am

Good! But is the turning away intentional?

Stephanie Johnson

3/6/2015 05:57:26 am

I agree with Ashley on the whole ignorance is bliss theme.

People have their own problems and most find it too tedious to worry about others. For example, in "Musee des Beaux Arts" the ship had seen Icarus's fall but "had somewhere to get to and sailed CALMLY on”. Auden also says that “everything turns away

quite LEISURELY from the disaster" regarding Icarus’s fall. The reason why I capitalized “calmly’ and ‘'leisurely' is because they were striking to me. The ship and everyone else in the poem didn’t hesitate to ignore the misfortune going on around them. It would be one thing if they didn’t have the means to help and felt bad about the situation... but they, without any remorse turned their face away from suffering.

3/7/2015 02:53:01 am

Great comments on diction!

Liam Redding

3/6/2015 07:56:33 am

My first step in figuring out this poem was to find out what the title translated into. After a quick google search I came to find that "Musee des Beaux Arts" stands for "The Museum of Fine Arts". Next, I read the poem and tried to find out how it related to "The Museum of Fine Arts".

Let's say a person who doesn't understand art walks through a museum of fine art. They may look at a Picasso painting and think it's garbage. They will never see the beauty in the painting because they can't see the depth, they only see the abstract weirdness. The same goes for people who go on living their lives while horrible things happen around them. Other classmates brought up the fact that we just turn our cheek and act like we don't see these horrible things or find other ways to cope with it. Maybe it's just that we can't truly see what's in front of us, or the things are so horrible that our brain cannot fathom it. This can be seen in recent news with all the horrible things Isis is doing. We talk and act like we know how horrible it was that Isis burned a man alive, but none of witnessed him burn alive so we just went on with our day and forgot about it.. We never see the true horror just like the man in the museum of fine arts never saw the beauty in Picasso's painting.

3/7/2015 02:54:50 am

Liam Sniper Redding! Yes! Beautiful last line. (A slam dunk! Omg, sorry.)

Susan Margevich

3/7/2015 03:19:14 am

I agree with everybody who's already posted, but in effort to not reiterate previous standpoints, I'm going to argue that this poem is about perception.

Something that is normal to one person could be life changing for another- in cliche terms, "one man's trash is another man's treasure." Auden juxtapositions contrasting phrases one after another in order to demolish one statement about something "miraculous" such as birth into something "dull." Through doing this, he is encouraging the idea that something amazing to one person could be not so amazing to another.

Like Liam said, it's all about appreciation. The person on the "expensive delicate" and beautiful ship saw something that would have maybe driven another person mad, but instead, he continued on his path with nothing of a second thought. Without the story to accompany it, Icarus' demise is truly nothing more than some moron kid falling out of the sky. Without the knowledge that he was escaping, flying for the first time, feeling truly free and wonderful within himself, and experiencing something miraculous, Icarus was no more than a numbskull child who's dead now.

Perception is everything. A miracle to one is underwhelming to another. Only through full and total understanding can we truly appreciate the beauty and magnificence of every situation. And since it is impossible to know everything about everything, we will never be able to grasp the full beauty of the world or understand the beauty that everyone else sees.

3/8/2015 12:24:52 pm

Nice! Glad you brought up on waxen wing-ed man, Icarus.

baleigh payne

3/12/2015 04:04:03 am

Thats good insight

Dani Matthews

3/7/2015 08:34:40 am

W.H. Auden's Musee des Beaux Arts is about how everyone and everything continues doing what it does around big events, and even after a "dreadful martyrdom," people will continue on with their normal lives. With the exception of the children who did not want a new sibling, the people and animals are not ignoring what's happening; they're just ignorant to it.
What's weird about this poem is that it's kind of analyzing Pieter Brueghel's "The Fall of Icarus," but Auden doesn't tell you that until the second stanza (although he does sort of hint to it by titling the poem "Museum of Fine Arts"). When you look at the painting, you see exactly what Auden is talking about; everyone is doing what they do, no one is paying attention to Icarus drowning. Are they ignoring him, or are they unaware of his presence? I mean, no one is even facing his direction except for the man in the bottom left corner but even he is looking more downward than at Icarus.
The last three lines of the poem sound like Auden is blaming the ship for ignoring Icarus, but I think it's more like when you blame the coffee table for being in your way when you stub your toe on it. You're not actually blaming it, and it's just doing it's thing.
However I do like (and personally connect with) Ashley's idea of humans ignore these things because "It's overwhelming to think about the tragedies that strike our world every day." Honestly, I would have gone in the same direction if not for the last two lines of the first stanza. Auden talks about the innocence of the animals, which made me think that he's comparing the humans to them in that innocent way.

3/8/2015 12:25:44 pm

D -- awesome! Happy to see you took this one step further to discuss the painting itself. I think you're right.

Hannah Cherry

3/7/2015 09:30:26 am

To me this poem is about going on with life after something out of the ordinary has happened. The first stanza describes the different people going about their lives oblivious to anything else going on. The forth line "While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along" shows how life continues on for other people even when something for someone else goes differently. After someone has gone through something that is out of the ordinary they get a glance at this feeling that the world just keeps moving without them. This poem describes that feeling by showing all of these peoples lives. Then in the second stanza Auden writes a more specific example using Icarus. Icarus is a reference to Greek mythology about a boy who is wearing wings made out of wax and feathers, ignores his fathers warnings about the wax melting, and flies too close to the sun. He then falls to his death because the wings break. This event is so meaningful to him because he is taking place in it and it is out of the ordinary, but Auden highlights the point that life goes on by mentioning the people on the boat who keep going on with their daily lives after they have seen it like nothing happened.

3/8/2015 12:28:12 pm

Love you're working your Greek myth knowledge! Maybe let's talk about what Icarus was trying to escape?

Brittney Brodnan

3/7/2015 03:02:14 pm

I can honestly say that I agree with Susan's response 100%. Sometimes we take things for granted, such as clothing and food for example. Somewhere in our neighborhood, town, state, country, continent - people need clothes and food but we take these things as an everyday lifestyle.
It is said that there is always a bright side to every situation. We may not know exactly what it is at the moment, but we will soon understand. Just like the person on the ship for example.

3/8/2015 12:27:19 pm

But what of suffering B-squared? More on the suffering..."About suffering they were never wrong..." What does that even mean? :)

Alexis Bush

3/8/2015 01:12:28 am

When reading the first few lines of the poem "Musee des Beaux Arts", I thought of slavery. It refers to the masters and how they understood that its human position. When everything else was going on like normal, slaves understood it was their duty to do the strenuous work they were doing. Part of me thinks the whole poem is about this concept, and part of me thinks it's not. In the idea that it is, it says "they never forget" meaning that later generations never forgot the concept. The innocent children didn't want it to happen as they continued with their innocence being forced to allow it to. Even when tragic things are happening, everyone continues with life as normal. The last paragraph of the poem idealizes how everything continues even when people are dying and the world is ugly.

3/8/2015 12:29:25 pm

Lovely analysis -- love that you're pushing your thinking.

Jonathan McGuire

3/8/2015 03:57:25 am

Musée des Beaux Arts is about humanity's underlying mortality and its attempts to ignore it. Auden juxtaposes the elderly person waiting for the miracle of childbirth to the young, naive ice skaters to prove this point. Auden goes on to say, "They never forgot that even the dreadful martydom must run its course," referring to the elderly, who bear the burden of life and death at their heaviest moments.
Auden then discusses "Icarus", and how the plowsman and the ship both turn away and ignore the poor drowning boy. This scene is a metaphor for how death is ever present in daily life. There are constant reminders of how we are mortal, through television, advertisements, books, and nature itself. In fact, so many little hints occur in one day that we naturally just block it out, subconsciously refusing to pursue the thought. In that same way, the farmer and ship turn away from the dying child, just as we turn away from the unpleasant picture that is death.
Woah, Liam. Just woah. Awesome post.

3/8/2015 12:30:56 pm

Nice, J Mc! Convincing analysis indeed.

Travis Krauch

3/8/2015 05:09:57 am

The structure of the poem makes clear its subject. The first phrase is inverted, which pushes the phrase's subject to the beginning of the second line to emphasize "The Old Masters", referring to European painters prior to 1800. This technique is repeated throughout the poem for the same effect.

As for the question of suffering raised by Ashley and continued by others, Auden points out that the Old Masters' collective notion is that it happens effortlessly:
"...;how it takes place
While someone is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along"
This idea is shown in the second stanza, where Auden takes note of the sun shining "As it had to", making the sun complicit in Icarus' drowning. Similar to how we treat tragedies that happen today, though it may not be intentional, ignoring them makes us complicit in future tragedies that occur for the same reason. It's our job to not be bystanders and say something critical when it happens, like Auden was attempting to do with his poem.

3/8/2015 12:31:47 pm

Nice! Glad you could clear up "the Old Masters" for us. :)

Leah Smith

3/8/2015 05:26:53 am

To me, "Musée des Beaux Arts" by W. H. Auden focuses on suffering, but even more on how we ignore it. But I believe that we aren't truly ignoring what's happening around us. We all tend to have our guard up and constantly be waiting for something awful to happen, but it never does until we least expect it. So maybe we're always looking for the suffering of others so we can help, but their pain is never truly shown until we least expect for it to be there. Along with that, society has pushed for everyone to "be yourself". It's possible that we've been so caught up in our own lives and problems that we forget other people go through similar or worse experiences. We have to be able to balance the pain of others along with our own suffering. I agree with Liam's post that maybe we truly can't see the pain and suffering of others no matter how hard we try to relate.

Mrs H

3/8/2015 12:34:27 pm

Or perhaps we're really the ones suffering? Just a thought...
good job :)

Tania Boh

3/8/2015 06:41:25 am

I would have to agree with Ashley on the theme of ignorance is bliss.

In "Musée des Beaux Arts" by W.H. Auden, the main theme in the poem is about how there is suffering all around us, yet instead of changing it we decided to ignore the matter. As humans we tend to ignore what we can't change and what we can't see. For example Auden states, " the torturer's horse
Scratches its innocent behind on a tree." We won't hear the plead and cry for help, and even if we do we won't do anything about it. I think a big contributing factor to why we choose to ignore things is because in the end we will all one day become helpless.
At the same time, I do believe we get caught up in our own daily lives and personal problems that we don;t hear the cry for help.

3/8/2015 12:36:07 pm

Nice, Ms. Boh! Yeah, I agree on the becoming helpless thing. How related to suffering you think?

Erica Conaughty

3/8/2015 08:53:03 am

After first reading the poem through, I did the same as Liam did by translating the title into "The Museum of Fine Arts." I think that Auden must have gotten the idea from seeing the Icarus painting in the Museum. The first stanza talks about how it is really only human of us to suffer. Everyone has gone through something. "how it takes place while someone is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along." This line, to me, is that sometimes you don't know how what people are going through just by seeing them. You really never know.

The second stanza just shows that people, when they see someone that is visually suffering, people tend to turn their heads and not pay attention. To me, the big thing I think is that some people do not feel as much as others. Some people live life so passionately that when someone else is suffering, they feel as though they are suffering too. What if the people in the painting do not feel like that? Our stories come from how we overcome our own struggles, how we can somehow dodge what life throws at us. Maybe I'm going out on a limb by saying that, for people in general, maybe we turn our heads because it is not something that makes us feel something. We are so set on doing things for ourselves and doing what we need to do that we don't allow ourselves to FEEL something.

3/8/2015 12:38:14 pm

Great thinking, Erica! Because what happens when we allow ourselves to feel?

Jordan Fain

3/8/2015 11:33:32 am

I agree with Ashley that the theme is ignorance is bliss.
In the poem Musee des Beaux Arts, W. H. Auden describes suffering throughout the poem and says that everyone has their own problems and have no time to stop and help the ones who are suffering.
Auden describes people suffering as "where the dogs go on with their doggy life." In this line Auden turns the poem to being informal by using the word "doggy." So that line stuck out to me.

3/8/2015 12:40:29 pm

Jordan, you have successfully picked out one of my favorite lines in all of poetry.

Why the common diction you think? Commenting on something bigger maybe? Or too much of a (doggy) stretch? ;)

Rachel Chapman

3/8/2015 12:15:02 pm

After reading everyone's inputs, I feel like I'm right there with them. Auden's main point in in "Musee des Beauz Arts," is like Ashley said, ignorance is bliss. He states that although terrible things are happening around us, we tend to over look other people's tragedies in order to focus on our own lives. Auden uses the example of "Breughel's Icarus, for instance : how everything turns away
Quite leisurely from the disaster..." As humans, we are focused on our own agenda, and not necessarily the needs of others, if they don't directly influence our lives.

I had to read this poem several times to finally grasp the complete concept, but I think I've finally reached my conclusion. I love what this poem represents because it's blunt, and describes the true nature of human beings. There's no sugar coating involved.

3/8/2015 12:42:18 pm

So, evidence that people will never change? :)

Mooney

3/8/2015 01:46:52 pm

Guys.
This has been among my favorite poems forever. I've had a little tiny copy of it hanging in every room I've worked in for about 12 years now.
Just last TuesdY my friend Mac's wife died. They're in their eighties and they met when they were 15. Take a second and think about that. I can't conceive of that. I've b

3/8/2015 01:50:46 pm

Ladies & Gentlemen: Mr. Mooney!

He was (is) my mentor. I invited him to participate in our discussion because a) I know he loves this poem, and b) he's a genius.

Pay attention. Let the Old Master work. :)

Ps. Mooney -- your reply cut off...

3/8/2015 01:54:59 pm

Mooney, you fool, you hit submit with your big, stupid fingers.

So, anyway...
It's easy to run this poem through my clever, English teacher filter and have clever, English teacher things to say, but I think what the poem is about is about the loneliness of grief and the fundamental solitude of the human experience. We make our peace, we know that the world cannot stop all the clocks or disconnect the phones or silence the dog with a juicy bone, but we wish for it. We wish for solace and acknowledgement. And we know that that is either selfish or profoundly, profoundly unlikely. Because, as that great poet. Peter. Gabriel wrote, life carries on and on and on and on. And when we pull focus we realize that characteristic, that meta self awareness is the blessing and the curse of being human.

Karla Hilliard

3/8/2015 02:10:26 pm

THANKS, buddy! Not surprising, but I agree. And oh my god if I'm not thinking of the same Peter Gabriel song!

The Auden references you'll get, so here you go kids:
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/petergabriel/igrieve.html

Nikki Schlapo

3/8/2015 01:49:19 pm

This poem has a lot to say about suffering, but I think it's more about how people react to suffering. Everyone has experienced suffering for themselves, but sometimes it's different when it's someone around you. It could be a moral issue, but that's not always the case. I'll be the first to admit that sometimes I don't respond to other people the way I probably should. I know that I've seen someone crying and thought that I should try to comfort them, but I was uncomfortable in the situation so I pretended not to notice. Now, I know that sounds rude,but it's the truth. Suffering's human position is that it brings out the empathy in some, and the apathy in others, and I think that's what the poem is talking about.
I agree with Cailin that sometimes we are too caught up in ourselves to think of others and what the right thing to do would be.

Katie King

3/8/2015 02:03:31 pm

Everyone pretty much hit the meaning of this poem right on the head, ignorance is bliss and the problem of the blindness of society. People in general are self-centered at heart. They have to try to see others before themselves, which is hard for most to do. In this poem people are going about their own lives like the farmer and the ice skating kids. When something happens to someone else that would change their own agenda they ignore it and continue on seeing what they want to see. By describing these scenes Auden is telling people to open up their eyes. If we only focus on what is happening in our own lives then we can miss something amazing, like what Auden described as "miraculous birth". Or in the second stanza, something tragic like the drowning of the young Icarus. By being less self-seeking one can learn and grow as a person, which is what I believe W.H.Auden is trying to preach to society in "Musee des Beaux Arts".

Lex Reyes

3/8/2015 02:29:19 pm

Like everyone, I think it is about how people want to overlook other people's misery because they have their own problems. One line that stuck out to me was "That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course." Is this saying that suffering is inevitable? That somewhere someone will always be suffering somewhere? That's pretty sad. To sum up this poem: People will suffer and life will go on.

Annyssa Greene

3/8/2015 03:26:23 pm

Lex,

I love these questions. They made me think if I'm not suffering that doesn't mean that the suffering in the world is over. Someone somewhere is going through something that i probably can't handle. then it completely clicked that yep world suffering is very inevitable.

3/8/2015 03:18:06 pm

I agree with everyone else. This poem is about how humans would rather worry about their own pain and misery than to go out and help someone who suffers more than them. The lines,
"Quite 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 shone" show that yes he knows someone is suffering but he would rather let them because he can still enjoy his day while the sun is shining and he has nothing to worry or complain about. This poem in a nutshell: Life will swallow you whole if you wallow in your suffering and misery.

Austin Custer

3/8/2015 03:20:06 pm

The poem is literally about suffering, about how people turn a blind eye to suffering if it doesn't pertain to them. But don't think this is necessarily a bad thing that the poem is pointing out because we've become so adaptive to suffering that we try to avoid it. That's human nature but it's also saying that life goes on that sure you can suffer but take note that your suffering will not stop the world around you so thicken up and continue on just like the rest of the world does. Earth will not stop for you, people will not stop for you, you just have to try your hardest to keep up with it all.

Noelle McKenzie

3/8/2015 03:36:36 pm

I agree with what most people said on the theme of ignorance is bliss. I think that people tend to overlook suffering by continuing on with there everyday lives. In society, people get so used to hearing about tragedies that it doesn't effect them unless there is personal involvement. It is also easier to deal with suffering if you just ignore it.

Olivia McGoldrick

3/8/2015 04:08:05 pm

Well first I wanted to start off my comment by saying that I really enjoyed this poem. (probably one of my favorites)
I really agree with Liam and Erica on their interpretation of this poem. A lot of the time it's hard for us to connect and really feel for something that doesn't directly have an impact on our life. Like in the poem the line "But for him it was not an important failure" the boy falling has no real impact on his life, so while he may dwell on it for a short time, it weighs no part in the rest of his life. It's easier for us to say "Worse things happen to people everyday" or "Well so what, people are dying all the time." This response is easier than actually trying to understand what is happening and emotionally connect with it.

Haili

3/8/2015 04:17:21 pm

When first reading W.H. Auden's poem "Muses does Beaux Arts" I was confused. Mostly because of the lack of caffeine in my system, but also part of me was just mind-boggled by this. Does society really function like this? Do we choose to ignore others suffering for our own happiness? Why in the world that we live in; is this a classic archetype? "Ignorance is bliss" we all repeat to ourselves in a creepy "drink the koolaid" type of voice. Well, that's what this poem is saying. I completely agree with Ashley Boothe on this one.

Bri

3/8/2015 05:16:14 pm

Haili,
I was confused at first, too, by the language. I love your questions! I honestly think it depends on the person and their background. People I have met who haven't had the best life growing up seem to be more sympathetic toward others over all. Today's society seems to be made up of those who don't know struggle at all. And how can you sympathize with someone suffering if you don't know how suffering feels? I could be wrong, but I think it's ultimately up to a person's character influenced by their environment.

Hope Spriggs

3/8/2015 05:35:36 pm

That's exactly how I felt except it didn't come as much of a surprise to me. People do this everyday. Think about it. In school there are those kids that don't have any friends. They never did anything ot anyone they just weren't in the right place at the right time to make them. We all see that person or those people and we just keep on walking. We don't try to go out of our way for them. I know everyone is going to say that they would, but really there might be two. The truth is it is a "drink the koolaid" type of society we live in. Whether we are talking ignorance is bliss or a universal beauty standard this is the world we live in. Its sad, but oh so true. I agree completely with what you have said and there is nothing else we can add to it.

Brianna Norris

3/8/2015 05:05:20 pm

After reading over "Musée des Beaux Arts" by W. H. Auden a few times, the poem translates to me that in reality we tend to forget that there are going to be many people we meet or talk to every day who are struggling with something whether it is unknown or just unspoken. It is inevitable, and sort of selfish of us humans to put our happiness over sympathizing others suffering. At the same time, once we are truly happy in life we don't want anything to hamper it. We hate negativity. "Ignorance is bliss" comes to mind, as everyone else has agreed; we say our sorries and go about our merry lives -- to never think of it again. This poem makes me think of playing games as a child, where you draw a card or roll the die and advance in the game but your crush has to go back some steps. You have this bittersweet feeling of being happy that you're winning in combination with feeling bad for your crush who isn't doing well. You're happy that you're winning even though someone is losing. You're even guilty that you are so happy and excited about winning! Sadly, this applies to more serious subjects in life. Is it just simply human nature?

Brock Adams

3/8/2015 05:14:31 pm

After my first time reading this, I was pretty confused in what it was trying to say. However, after reading it a few more times, a clear message came to me. This poem is about how people do not pay attention to the disasters and terrible things around them. It expresses that through all of the terrible things, people just turn their heads to continue on in their lives. However, what is interesting is that the poem does not push the reader to feel a certain way about the topic. Instead, it simply seems to explain the whole ordeal and that is it; I believe this is because the author is basically saying that this act by the human race is solely human nature and nothing to truly be ashamed of. This is by far one of my favorite poems because I think it is so interesting how I was not pushed to feel one way or another; rather, the topic is just brought to my attention. I find it an extremely interesting technique.

3/8/2015 05:16:58 pm

p.s. Obviously I agree with the majority of people in this discussion board as after reading through everyone's comments after I posted mine, a lot of people are saying roughly the same thing.

3/8/2015 05:27:14 pm

When I was first reading "Musée des Beaux Arts" by W.H. Auden I was slightly confused. I was wondering why the poet spent so much time talking about what else was going on in the scene that the poem takes place. I kept thinking "why are they wasting so much time?" After realizing that the real action in the poem was the boy dying I almost had a heart attack.
The poet sets it up like its supposed to be just an average story on people living a basic life going on with their business. Then BOOM! Someone dies. The poet spends only 5 lines truly talking about the person drowning. All else is spent on the random stuff in the background and the reactions of people that see the person drowning. By using this strategy the poet is indirectly commenting on human behavior. The poet is saying that the living only care for the living. The living only care about the living. The living are the only ones that matter. Even when someone dies we look at how they affected our lives and how we miss them. We are naturally self- centered, shallow human beings. We care more about our outfits than a child named Billy that died of starvation. Like Leah said, the poem is about ignorance. There are plenty of things to pay attention to in this world, but we only pay attention to those that affect our lives. Whether its our rumps itching or having to make it to the harbor in time, we are more worried about that than the beggar starving on the streets.

Mary

3/9/2015 06:34:14 am

I agree with Ashley on the idea that the theme of the poem is "ignorance is bliss." It would be extremely overwhelming and nearly impossible to continue on with life if everyone paid attention to all of the tragedy in the world. I also thought it was interesting at the end of the poem when Auden wrote, "the sun shone as it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green water, and the expensive delicate ship must have seen something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky." I thought it was strange that he described the boy falling out of the sky as "amazing" and that maybe this could be a reflection on how sometimes society romanticizes tragedy.

3/9/2015 09:22:13 am

The poem captures the essence of one of humanities basic traits. If we don't see it we don't care about it. We won't go out of our way to help someone or something if we don't know they are in trouble. And even if we do know we won't do anything until it is brought straight to our face. And when that happens we usually feel guilt. Ignorance is bliss.

Jantzen

3/10/2015 02:02:56 pm

I agree with Susan and the others who posted about taking what we have for granted. This poem is very meaningful and shows how we can overlook and complain about what we don't have Alegre there are others out there with so much less.

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