The answer to this question is in Auden's words "for instance". His poem is not specifically about Icarus and his tragedy. It transcends this particular story, elevating its message to the highest, universal level. The poem is about suffering as an integral constituent of life. People are often completely unaware of other people's suffering. The Icarus motif is just an example, albeit a very drastic one. It serves as the poem's climax. The "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 vs. death and art vs. reality, rather than Icarus' tragic story.
Heart that fed: And on the pedestal these words appear: 'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!' Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.
- Affect is what something can do to something else
- Effect is the result of a cause
