Musee des Beaux Arts-W.H.Auden

1. What do you see in the picture? Where is Icarus? What are the other figures in the picture? Why does the painter try to convey through the arrangement of the figures in the painting?     

       I see a farmer is going home. A shepherd is tending sheep. A kid is playing on thebeach. Icarus is in the sea near the ship. I think the painter try to convey the desire to flyof Icarus. But when he falls into the sea, nobody notice him. It means people won’taffect though Icarus falls down.

2. In your own words sum up what, according to the speaker (in lines 1-13), the Old Masters understood about human suffering. And who are the “Old Masters” that he refers to?

      The Old Master refers to the painter.