ANTH 4220 Chapter Notes -Old Master, Free Verse, Anthropomorphism
Document Summary
Common theme of suffering and how people are indifferent to the suffering of one person; one who suffers must suffer alone. Talks about old masters and brueghels icarus; these images represent suffering of human beings and the greediness of themselves; shows that people would rst save themselves before helping someone else. Largely about how personal suffering is subjective and has little impact on the world outside. The poem juxtaposes ordinary things in life with the extraordinary things in life. Ex. for example the birth of the miraculous son and children skating on the pond. Auden praises the artists for painting humans truthfully and showing what people try to cover up in society. Theme is the apathy with which humans view individual suffering- for example, in fall of icarus painting, the man with the cart walks by even though he may have seen. Is written in free verse, meaning the poem is free of meter, regular rhythm, or a rhyme scheme.
