Relationship between "Musee des Beaux Arts", a poem by WH Auden, and "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus", a painting by Pieter Brueghel

The first time I read the poem "Musee des Beaux Arts", by W.H. Auden, I was under the impression that the poem was a simple interpretation of a painting. In order to fully grasp the significance of the poem, I suggest that one become familiar with the history behind not only the myth of Icarus, but also Pieter Brueghel the Elder's painting, "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus". A thorough background allowed me to make a more skilled analysis of the painting-poem relationship and how it affected me.
In the beginning, I found it beneficial to analyze each piece individually. Brueghel seems to…