Mar 26, 2013 Awake in Real Time: Coffee-induced Meditations and Journal Entries
I don’t have an original poem or story today. Instead, I have some favorite poems to share with you:
The World is Too Much With Us, by William Wordsworth
Picnic, Lightning, by Billy Collins
Here’s a painting that always moves me, because the painter, Peter Brueghel (one of my favorites) depicts the fall of Icarus in the most undramatic (and because of the understated nature of the image, doubly dramatic), and bucolic setting possible.
Of all the Greek myths, I find the myths of Icarus and Daedalus, of Orpheus and Eurydice, and of Eros and Psyche to be among the most compelling. They captured my heart when I was a pre-teen. As an adult, I wrote the lyrics and composed the music for two songs about Icarus and Daedalus back in the 1990s, and recorded them. (I still rather enjoy listening to them, after all these years — one of these days, I’ll put it on YouTube, and provide a link on my blog.)
Back to Icarus and Daedalus. Here’s the poem Musee Des Beaux Arts by W.H. Auden which is about the Brueghel painting and the story of Icarus. Then, there’s Landscape With The Fall of Icarus by William Carlos Williams about the same painting.
So, this is what I’ll do on the days I have too much other work. I’ll share the works of my favorite poets and painters, and musicians and thinkers with you.
On days when I have time, I might actually write some essays about artists, musicians, writers, et al. Those are yet to come.
Thanks for looking in!
Love,
Dreamer of Dreams
Tags: Icarus and Daedalus, Kubla Khan by Coleridge, Landscape of the Fall of Icarus by William Carlos Williams, Lightning by Billy Collins, Musee Des Beaux Arts by W.H. Auden, Peter Brueghel, Picnic, William Wordsworth