Question

Why does Auden postpone mentioning Icarus until the second stanza of the poem? How might this

Answer 1

Answer: The poem itself is about suffering as an integral constituent of life. The Icarus motif is just an example, albeit a very drastic one. The quote "delicate ship" is on its course and it keeps sailing, although the crew must have seen "a boy falling out of the sky". In other words, the strange death of a young boy changes nothing in the course of other people's lives. That is why, unlike Williams' poem, this one doesn't even have Icarus in its title, but the Museum. It deals with the relations of life and death.

Explanation: