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Year 8

Exploring W.H. Auden's poem 'Musée des Beaux Arts'

I can write a creative paragraph inspired by W.H. Auden’s ekphrastic poem 'Musée des Beaux Arts'.

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Year 8

Exploring W.H. Auden's poem 'Musée des Beaux Arts'

I can write a creative paragraph inspired by W.H. Auden’s ekphrastic poem 'Musée des Beaux Arts'.

Download all resources
Share activities with pupils

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. W.H. Auden’s poem ‘Musée des Beaux Arts’ is an ekphrastic poem.
  2. An ekphrastic poem is a poem which describes a piece of art, and is inspired by it.
  3. Each painting which inspired Auden’s ekphrastic poem depicts tragic events.
  4. However, what inspired Auden were the people in the paintings who seem to have apathetic responses to the tragic events.
  5. Auden focuses particularly on the apathy of the ploughman in Bruegel’s painting ‘Landscape with the Fall of Icarus’.

Common misconception

Auden is saying suffering is unimportant.

Auden presents extreme suffering, but he is exploring how, inevitably, when something terrible is happening, something ordinary is happening at the same time too.

Keywords

  • Plough - a large piece of farming equipment that is used to plant seeds and turn over soil

  • Ekphrastic - a poem which describes a piece of art, and is inspired by it

  • Apathetic - showing little interest or feeling in response to something

  • Old Masters - any person who is regarded as a skilled painter who worked in Europe before 1800

  • Martyrdom - death or suffering of someone because of their religious beliefs

Consider how you want to read the poem. Will pupils do this in pairs, or will you read as a class? What kind, if any, annotations are you expecting? Will pupils need further words defined other than the ones provided in the lesson?
Teacher tip

Equipment

You need a copy of the poem W.H. Auden's 'Musée des Beaux Arts' from the Curtis Brown 1979 edition of Selected Poems, edited by Edward Mendelson.

Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
  • Depiction or discussion of upsetting content

Supervision

Adult supervision recommended

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Match each sentence stem to its ending, showing your knowledge of 'The Fall of Icarus' ('Myths, legends and stories that inspire').
Correct Answer:King Minos imprisons ,Daedalus and Icarus.

Daedalus and Icarus.

Correct Answer:Daedalus,constructs wings so they can escape.

constructs wings so they can escape.

Correct Answer:Daedalus warns ,his son not to fly too close to the sun.

his son not to fly too close to the sun.

Correct Answer:Icarus filled, with hubris, ,flies too close to the sun.

flies too close to the sun.

Correct Answer:Daedalus offers ,the god Apollo his wings, saying he will never fly again.

the god Apollo his wings, saying he will never fly again.

Q2.
In the unit 'Myths, legends and stories that inspire', we look at a painting called 'Landscape with the Fall of Icarus' by Pieter Bruegel. What was Bruegel's painting inspired by?
a fable
a moral
a legend
Correct answer: a myth
an historical account
Q3.
In the unit 'Myths, legends and stories that inspire', we look at a painting called 'Landscape with the Fall of Icarus' by Pieter Bruegel. How might we describe Icarus's death?
comedy
Correct answer: tragedy
history
moral
Q4.
In the unit 'Myths, legends and stories that inspire', we look at a painting called 'Landscape with the Fall of Icarus' by Pieter Bruegel. What do we see if Icarus in this painting?
his face
his wings
Correct answer: his legs
his arms
nothing
Q5.
In the unit 'Myths and Legends', we look at a painting called 'Landscape with the Fall of Icarus' by Pieter Bruegel. Focus on the figures apart from Icarus. What words most accurately describe them?
hubristic
Correct answer: humble
Correct answer: agricultural
distressed
Q6.
In the unit 'Myths, legends and stories that inspire', we look at an ekphrastic poem by Williams Carlos Williams. What is an ekphrastic poem?
a poem inspired by someone
a poem that uses alliteration throughout
a poem without any punctuation
Correct answer: a poem inspired by an artwork

Exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
In the unit 'Myths, legends and stories that inspire', we look at four pieces of art about the same set of characters: Daedalus and Icarus. Starting with the first, put them in chronological order.
1 - the Greek myth of the fall of Icarus
2 - Pieter Breugel's painting 'Landscape with the Fall of Icarus'
3 - W.H. Auden’s poem 'Musée des Beaux Arts'
4 - William Carlos Williams’s poem 'Landscape with the Fall of Icarus'
Q2.
In 'Myths, legends and stories that inspire', we focus on a poem by W.H. Auden called 'Musée des Beaux Arts'. What feeling does Auden explore in this poem?
hubris
sympathy
empathy
Correct answer: apathy
humility
Q3.
In 'Myths, legends and stories that inspire', W.H. Auden's poem 'Musée des Beaux Arts' is an ekphrastic poem because …?
It doesn’t use any punctuation.
It is divided into just two stanzas.
Correct answer: It describes the art it is inspired by.
It has a French title.
Q4.
In W.H. Auden’s poem 'Musée des Beaux Arts' ('Myths, legends and stories that inspire'), who does Auden present as apathetic to the death of Icarus?
Daedalus
Jesus
Correct answer: the ploughman
the gods
Q5.
In W.H. Auden's poem 'Musée des Beaux Arts' ('Myths, legends and stories that inspire'), Auden explores the idea of apathy. Which sentence uses the word apathy correctly?
The play was apathetic so no-one liked it.
The audience apathetically applauded and demanded more.
The play was shocking and everyone was upset and apathetic.
Correct answer: The play failed to shock; instead, the audience was apathetic.
Q6.
Which sentence is best inspired by Auden's interpretation of Pieter Bruegel's ploughman in 'Landscape with the Fall of Icarus'? ('Myths, legends and stories that inspire').
Working together, the shepherd and ploughman pulled Icarus to safety.
Correct answer: The ploughman worked back and forth methodically through the field.
Since then, the ploughman knew, without doubt, he should have done something.
The ploughman saw the wings and feet, but he was glad Icarus was in the water.