Landscape With the Fall of Icarus

William Carlos Williams was an American poet well-known for his unique writing style and subject matter. A renowned imagist writer, Williams offers a curt description of Pieter Brueghel's painting "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus." Williams' interpretation of Breughel's painting is quite different from the lush, descriptive writing of W.H. Auden who also referred to Breughel's "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus" in his poem "Musee des Beaux Arts." In the poem "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus," Williams relies on allusion to express his interpretation and perspective of Breughel's painting.

One of the most interesting things about Williams' "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus," is the use of allusion, as it has to be applied at several levels. The primary level at which allusion is applied is from Breughel's perspective. In "The Fall of Icarus," Breughel depicts a peasant plowing his fields, which...
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