#Icarus fall

[tenderlystupendoussoul]

"Landscape with the Fall of Icarus", Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c. 1560);

"Landscape with the Fall of Icarus" (poem), William Carlos Williams (1960);

"Musée des Beaux Arts" (poem), W. H. Auden (1938);

“ICARUS”, STARSET;

“Icarus”, Bastille;

“Fun”, Coldplay;

“Sunlight”, Hozier;

“I, Carrion (Icarian)”, Hozier;

Icarus's passing is seen by Bruegel, Williams, and Auden as a minor incident in the grand scheme of existence. Williams' "quite unnoticed" serves as a reminder/memento mori of our own mortality. Dying is not such a remarkable occurrence, life moves on without us when we pass away. And sometimes all that can be heard at the end of a life is a just a brief splash sound.

"Icarus" by STARSET is about a self-destructive character. They interpret the story of Icarus as an allegory for being too self-absorbed at the expense of others. The lines "you'll never be good enough" and "you always fly right up until it burns" as well as "you'll never go through them" all allude to a tendency to constantly pursue the same route over and over no matter what.

Bastille's "Icarus" retells Icarus's story alongside a modern tragedy. The opening scene of "Icarus" shows a person preparing to "dig their own grave" and "drink themselves to death." The song continues by drawing a comparison between death and Icarus, who is "flying too close to the sun/ And Icarus's life, it has only just begun". With these lines, Bastille adapt the Icarus myth to a more contemporary setting, creating associations with tragedy and the carelessness of wasted youth.

In the song "Fun" by Coldplay, the singer likens himself to Icarus and confesses, "I know it's over before she says/ Now someone else has taken your place/ I know it's over, Icarus says to the sun". The Icarus myth is reframed by Coldplay as a tragic love story between a young person and the sun.

Hozier's song "Sunlight" describes how he is ready to die (metaphorically) in order to be with the person he views as his sunlight. While Hozier's main concern in "I, Carrion" is his lover's support, even in the face of death. The narrator's deep yearning for their lover's companionship leads them to embrace death willingly. Just as Icarus dismissed Daedalus' warning about flying too high, Hozier shows a similar disregard, blinded by love, prioritizing his over to the point of placing them over his own life.

[as-spring-came-in-october]

The Boy Who Flew Too High

“It's not about greed”, I plead,

“It is about venturing into the unknown”

I burnt right into the sun

Lest be buried here with her.

No, the wrath of the sun was too feeble to kill me,

It was her rage, I let myself be ignited in,

Hell claims me "an angel befallen"

Possessed by my ambition.

But here I drowned in her ocean eyes,

I finally get to breathe free

“Oh Thetis, thy womb so warm”,

I lay on the seabed, worshipping thy form.

A rebel, a narcissist,

My blood boils, melting my veins

And you all just blamed in on the waxen wings.

I could feel my skin flare,

I shined brighter than stars ever could,

Only fools rush in they say

But have wise men ever seen my Sun?

My sins match her amber eyes,

Lying in her grave, I can finally cry,

Oh, Helios, I am too close to thy light!

She loved me, and I could never say goodbye.

And here I fall, defeated in love,

It was never my ambition,

It was always my fault

And I surrender,

A fallen angel's curse, I am hers, I remember,

I flew, not to reach the sky,

I flew to escape my truthful lies.

I flew to escape what was never meant to be mine.

~By @its-ener

[nonebinary-leftbeef]

DEVASTATING the lyric you've been mishearing is better than the real one

[pimsri]

baa!

[derpycatsu]

icarus

[tsunosagun]

i flew too high, please catch my fall

[gfanlocalcryptid]

IF ONLY ICARUS COULD SEE ME NOW

[clarisimart]

Wax wings melt, metal wings rust

Alex Hirsch, you cannot keep comparing Ford to Icarus and expect me to be normal about it

commission info here

Close ups under cut

[inkyrainstorms]

[mellosdrawings]

"Lend me your wings so I can feel the sun on my skin"

Risking the fall for the warmth.

[PREV] - [NEXT] - [MASTERLIST]

[suzieloveships]

One day I'm going to write a fic like this. But today all I can offer is a meme

[zegalba]

The Fall of Icarus, made in Italy in the late sixteenth century. A cameo (agate, onyx) with a gold frame. 2.7 x 2.4cm (a square inch). Some of the waves are less than 1mm.

[cr0wbl00d]

I, Carrion (Icarian) - Hozier // Icarus Falling, 1743

[doesromandoart]

i’ll only listen to my brain because my palm-sized heart has failed me one too many times

[caemidraws]

[paintedkinzy-88]

You have no idea how long this took me. Not because it was hard, so to speak, but because I had nO TIME TO DRAW IT---

BUT. It's done. Congrats to the one person who guessed Leo could use portals to fly -- that was like. A huge plot point I wanted to delve into.

It's not satisfying to him, so to speak. As he says, it's not ACTUALLY flying. There’s not a lot of control here, he can’t maneuver or turn without needing another portal boost. Plus, he doesn't exactly LIKE the feeling of falling, knowing that should he screw up, should he not catch himself, or should his portals fail him like they do oh so often, he doesn't have any natural way to save himself... A fear that was only truly realized after Draxum tossed him off a roof.

However, the method helps ease his desire a bit. It's something he'll do for hours at night, when he can't sleep, until he's exhausted his mystics or the feeling of freefalling just gets to be a little too much for him. ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ