Icarus, Brueghel and the poets a study of meaning in the myth of Daedalus and Icarus
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Date
2001-11
Authors
Ullyatt, Anthony George
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of the Free State
Abstract
The myth of Daedalus and Icarus has always seemed such a simple story: a cautionary tale
about disobedience and hubris. The fallacy of that presumption has resulted in this
dissertation.
The research question took an equally simple form: What does the myth of Daedalus and
Icarus "mean"? Such a question presumes that there is a definitive "original" version of the
myth. This turned out not to be the case. As a result, three subordinate research questions
emerged: (a) how might the myth be understood if different versions of it existed?, (b) what
form might these differing variants take?, and (c) what broader, connotative meanings might
the myth possess?
In attempting to answer the main research question and its corollaries, the dissertation has a
number of purposes, the first of which is to try to define what we mean when we talk or write
about myth. While some of the major debates are touched upon, Chapter 1 pretends to be
little more than an introduction to a vast and amorphous topic. Some of the theoretical
matters underpinning this research are also dealt with here.
The second purpose is to offer a critical reading of Melville's translation of Ovid's
Metamorphoses. This is the focus of Chapter 2. However, what we understand and perceive
about the myth, its main characters, and what the mythic events "mean" create
presuppositions and presumptions that impinge on our understanding of its meaning/so
Consequently, the second chapter begins with an overview of the inter-relationships of the
major characters involved in the myth and those tales associated with Minos and Crete.
Chapter 3 may be considered almost as an adjunct to the first two. It presents several of
versions and variants of the Icarus myth. Most of these alternatives affect the way his
premature demise is perceived and its significance or meaning understood.
The dissertation's third purpose is to study how a number of poets from America, Britain, and
South Africa have made use of various aspects of the myth to create poems that serve as
"interpretations" or variants of the myth. Six poems comprise the subject of Chapter 4.
Chapter 5 has a narrower focus, given over, as it is, to an examination of how three major
English-speaking poets have used one of Brueghel's paintings of the myth in various ways to
produce poems about, or related to, the subject of Icarus. To this end, the chapter opens with
a discussion of Brueghel's work as well as some earlier depictions of the myth.
Chapter 6 explores several broader connotative meanings of the myth. It explores "what else"
the myth could mean. A brief opening discussion of denotative and connotative meaning leads
to a range of reflections on such matters as exile, flight, the rebel and conformity, and the
father/son relationship among others. The various sections of the chapter are intended to
initiate, even provoke discussion and debate about the myth's meaning; it offers nothing that
should be construed as either comprehensive or definitive.
Chapter 7 contains a collection of more than two dozen poems (in English) inspired in some
way by the Icarian myth. It goes without saying that many more texts exist in German,
French, and Spanish, to say nothing of examples in Eastern European languages. The texts
included here provide nothing more than a soupcon of the range and diversity of responses
the myth has provoked. Their inclusion should not be taken as any sort of benchmark for
creative quality or otherwise.
The dissertation concludes with a list of references.
Description
Keywords
Mythology (Greek), American poetry -- 20th century, Icarus (Greek mythology) in literature, Daedalus (Greek mythology) in literature, Dissertation (M.A. (English and Classical Culture))--University of the Free State, 2001