Auden is one of the greatest poets in 2th century English literature after Eliot. In December 1938, Auden visited the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels, Belgium? Did you see the painter of the Renaissance Brabant Principality? Peter? Bruegel's oil painting "The Fall of Icarus" is deeply touched. Auden once said: "As for poetry, or any art, it can be said that it has such a potential purpose: to eradicate people's illusions by telling the truth, so that people are no longer intoxicated." The Art Museum seems to have such charm, and even the beautiful scenery is short-lived. Just like the poem "Had somewhere to get to and said calmlyon", people need to move forward, forget suffering and all the fetters, and sail peacefully with a pious and enthusiastic heart.
In this beautiful landscape painting, the shepherd, the peasant woman and the sailor on a sailboat not far away are busy with their work. No one pays attention to the seaside not far away. A man falls headlong into the sea, showing only his feet, and even the birds beside him are not frightened. This man is said to be Icarus. Icarus is a figure in Greek mythology. He and his father glued feathers with wax, made them into wings and flew away from Crete on their shoulders. But when flying close to the sun, the wax wing was melted by the sun and he fell into the sea and died. In the oil painting, the tragedy of Icarus' death has happened, but other people around him, such as peasant women and shepherds, are unaware of it, and only the painters who have a panoramic view of the painting can see it. But the painter only showed tragedy in a corner of the oil painting. Auden used this poem to show that human beings are indifferent to others and are numb to their suffering. Auden, like other poets, did not tell the theme of poetry simply and clearly, but presented it to readers through a unique poetic form.