Question

compare the ways in which " auden's"musee des beaux arts" and, " brueghel's "landscape with the fall of icarus" use contrast to establish tone. include at least zon example of text evidence from the poem and at least one example of a visual image from the painting in your answers

Answer 1

Auden's "Musee des beaux arts" emphasizes the contrast between suffering and calmness:  "While someone else is eating, or opening a window or just walking dully along." contrasts with the phrase "That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course".  The poem's tone is of resignation.  It uses contrast to explain the nature of humanity: "How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting /For the miraculous birth, there always must be /Children who did not specially want it to happen." The aged are reverent and passionate, while the children have an opposite feeling.

Brueghel's "landscape with the fall of icarus" uses contrast in many ways: the painting seems to be divided in two, the earth/ the sky and sea.  The sky seems to be very expressive, with details such as the clouds and the light that add drama to the landscape, the presence of Icarus falling from the sky, transforms this space into the space of fantasy, myth and suffering, while the earth is quite the opposite.  The earth, depicts, everyday actions, work, and a human being completely consumed by labor. The viewer sees and pays attention to the fall of Icarus, while the farmer doesn't, there is a sense of helplessness and the farmer's indifference makes the scene even more dramatic.