Edward Field's midcentury poem "Icarus" re-imagines the ending of a famous Greek myth. In the original tale, a young man named Icarus flies too close to the sun using wings held together with wax; when his wings then melt, Icarus falls to sea and drowns. This Icarus, however, survives his fall and establishes a new life in the city. Seemingly scarred by his disastrous public failure, Icarus leads a mundane, monotonous, and isolated existence, commuting to work during the day and attempting to recapture his former glory only while hidden in the dark confines of his workshop at night. The poem illustrates the stifling conformity of modern life, the painful loss of youthful dreams, and how fear of failure can prevent people from reaching their full potential.

• Read the full text of “Icarus”

• “Icarus” Summary

• “Icarus” Themes

  • 

    The Loss of Youthful Ambition

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-3
    • Lines 7-31
  • 

    Pride, Mediocrity, and Fear of Failure

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-3
    • Lines 7-31
  • 

    The Conformity and Alienation of Modern Life

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 3-21
    • Lines 27-31

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Icarus”

  • Lines 1-5

    Only the feathers ...
    ... a gang war.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 6-9

    So the report filed ...
    ... tended the garden.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 10-12

    “That nice Mr. ...
    ... controlled huge wings

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 13-17

    Nor that those ...
    ... neat front yards;

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 18-21

    Yet all his ...
    ... the merely talented?

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 22-26

    And nightly Icarus ...
    ... himself for trying.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 27-31

    He had thought ...
    ... he had drowned.

    

    

    

    

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• “Icarus” Symbols

  • 

    Wings

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 11-12: “Never dreaming that the gray, respectable suit / Concealed arms that had controlled huge wings”
    • Lines 23-25: “And daily in his workshop, curtains carefully drawn, / Constructs small wings and tries to fly / To the lighting fixture on the ceiling:”

• “Icarus” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Allusion

    

    

    

    

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    Where allusion appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-3
    • Lines 6-8
    • Lines 11-14
    • Lines 20-21
    • Lines 22-25
    • Lines 27-28

  • Rhetorical Question

    

    

    

    

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    Where rhetorical question appears in the poem:

    • Lines 19-21: “What was he doing aging in a suburb? / Can the genius of the hero fall / To the middling stature of the merely talented?”

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “feathers,” “floating”
    • Line 3: “police,” “preferred”
    • Line 4: “confusing,” “case”
    • Line 6: “filed,” “forgotten”
    • Line 10: “nice,” “neighbors”
    • Line 11: “Never”
    • Line 12: “Concealed,” “controlled”
    • Line 14: “Compelled”
    • Line 21: “middling,” “merely”
    • Line 23: “curtains,” “carefully”
    • Line 24: “Constructs,” “fly”
    • Line 25: “fixture”
    • Line 26: “Fails,” “hates,” “himself”
    • Line 27: “He,” “had,” “himself,” “hero,” “had,” “heroically”
    • Line 28: “fall,” “fall”
    • Line 29: “commuter”
    • Line 30: “committees”

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

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    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Line 22: “And”
    • Line 23: “And”
    • Line 27: “hero,” “heroically”
    • Line 28: “fall,” “fall,” “hero”

• “Icarus” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Spectacular
  • Aspects
  • Compelled
  • Merely
  • Middling stature
  • Probes
  • Commuter
  • (Location in poem: Line 2: “Showed that anything more spectacular had occurred”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Icarus”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Icarus” Speaker

• “Icarus” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Icarus”

• More “Icarus” Resources

  • External Resources

    • A Look at the Poet's Career — A brief introduction to the poet's work, plus additional poems, from the Poetry Foundation. 

    • The Poem Out Loud — Listen to a reading of the poem set to music. 

    • An Explanation of the Myth of Icarus — An animated video that portrays the events of the original Greek myth of Icarus and Daedalus. 

    • How Field's Experiences Shaped His Poetry — An interview in which Field discusses his upbringing, his heritage, his time serving as a pilot in WWII, and his experiences as a gay man in New York City after the war. 

    • Field Discusses the Birth of the Gay Literary Scene in New York — An NPR interview with Field regarding the publication of his memoir, The Man Who Would Marry Susan Sontag, in which he discusses what it was like living in Greenwich Village in the 1960s. 

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