Consider Icarus, pasting those sticky wings on,
testing that strange little tug at his shoulder blade,
and think of that first flawless moment over the lawn
of the labyrinth. Think of the difference it made!
There below are the trees, as awkward as camels;
and here are the shocked starlings pumping past
and think of innocent Icarus who is doing quite well:
larger than a sail, over the fog and the blast
of the plushy ocean, he goes. Admire his wings!
Feel the fire at his neck and see how casually
he glances up and is caught, wondrously tunneling
into that hot eye. Who cares that he fell back to the sea?
See him acclaiming the sun and come plunging down
while his sensible daddy goes straight into town.
✦
Analysis
To A Friend Whose Work Has Come To Triumph: analysis
Introduction
"To A Friend Whose Work Has Come To Triumph" is a sonnet that retells the Greek myth of Icarus. Icarus flies on wings made by his father, soars too near the sun and falls into the sea. The poem does not treat him as a warning. It asks the reader to "Admire his wings!" and to feel the joy of his flight.
The speaker speaks in commands: "Consider", "think", "Feel", "See". Icarus is shown "acclaiming the sun" even as he plunges. The last line sets him against "his sensible daddy", who flies safely on "straight into town". The title offers this as a lesson for a friend who has succeeded.
Summary
The poem tells the reader to "Consider Icarus". He pastes on his sticky wings and tests "that strange little tug at his shoulder blade". The reader is asked to think of "that first flawless moment" over the lawn of the labyrinth. "Think of the difference it made!"
Below, the trees look "as awkward as camels". Shocked starlings pump past him as he climbs. Icarus is "doing quite well", larger than a sail, flying over the fog and the ocean. The speaker cries "Admire his wings!"
The reader is told to "Feel the fire at his neck". Icarus glances up casually and is caught, "wondrously tunneling / into that hot eye". The speaker asks who cares that he fell back to the sea.
The last two lines show him "acclaiming the sun" and then "plunging down". Meanwhile "his sensible daddy goes straight into town." The poem ends on that plain contrast between the falling son and the safe father.
Themes and meaning
Daring over caution. The poem sides with Icarus. It dwells on his "first flawless moment" and tells the reader to admire him. His father is "sensible" and survives, but the poem gives him only one flat line. Read this way, a brief glorious flight is worth more than a safe, dull journey.
Triumph redefined. The title speaks of work that has come to triumph. Yet the Icarus of the poem falls. The triumph lies in the flight and the rapture, not in the outcome. "Who cares" about the fall, the speaker asks, as if it hardly matters.
The cost of glory. The poem does not hide the danger. There is "fire at his neck", and he is "caught" by the sun and comes "plunging down". The joyful verbs, "wondrously tunneling" and "acclaiming", sit right beside the fall. Success and destruction happen in the same moment.
Advice or warning. The title addresses a friend, and the poem can be read as praise. The friend, like Icarus, is urged to enjoy the height. It can also be read as a warning that triumph brings the sun close. The question "Who cares" can be heard as sincere or as ironic. The poem leaves both readings open.
Youth and age. Icarus is "innocent" and casual, while his father is "sensible". The colloquial "daddy" makes the father homely and a little comic. The contrast sets youthful rapture against adult prudence. The poem's sympathy clearly lies with the son.
Tone
The tone is exhilarated and admiring. Exclamations such as "Think of the difference it made!" and "Admire his wings!" carry the speaker's excitement. The imperatives pull the reader into the flight.
There is also playful wit. The trees are "as awkward as camels", and Icarus is "doing quite well", a mild, almost chatty phrase for a miracle. The humour keeps the celebration light.
Near the end the tone becomes reckless. "Who cares" brushes the fall aside. The last line turns dry and faintly mocking. The "sensible daddy" going "straight into town" sounds dull beside the plunging son.
Form and structure
The poem is a sonnet: 1 stanza of 14 lines, ending in a rhymed couplet. The lines are long, from 9 to 15 syllables. They carry about five or six stresses and follow no strict metre.
The rhyme pattern follows a loose Shakespearean sonnet. The computed scheme finds full rhymes in blade and made, past and blast, and the closing couplet, down and town. The other pairs are near rhymes that a strict count misses: on and lawn, camels and well, wings and tunneling, casually and sea.
The poem is built from commands and exclamations. Enjambment carries the flight across line breaks, as in "over the lawn / of the labyrinth". The final couplet brings the fall and the father's safe arrival together.
Poetic devices
Allusion line 1
Consider Icarus The poem draws on the Greek myth of the boy who flew too near the sun. The reader is expected to know how the story ends.
Imagery line 2
that strange little tug at his shoulder blade The physical sensation of the new wings is precise and bodily. It brings the myth down to a felt moment.
Simile line 5
the trees, as awkward as camels Seen from above, the trees look clumsy and humped. The odd comparison shows how strange the world looks from the air.
Alliteration line 6
the shocked starlings pumping past The repeated s and p sounds mimic the birds' quick wingbeats. The birds' shock stresses that Icarus is out of place.
Understatement line 7
innocent Icarus who is doing quite well A miraculous flight is described in casual, mild words. The understatement is playful and hints at trouble to come.
Apostrophe and imperative line 9
Admire his wings! The speaker commands the reader directly. The exclamation turns the myth into a celebration.
Enjambment line 11
wondrously tunneling The line breaks before the object of the flight. The reader is carried over the break into the sun, as Icarus is.
Metaphor line 12
into that hot eye The sun becomes an eye. It watches, dazzles and burns.
Rhetorical question line 12
Who cares The speaker waves away the fall. The question can be heard as defiant or as ironic.
Irony line 14
while his sensible daddy goes straight into town The safe father gets a flat, everyday ending. The contrast makes caution look dull beside the son's fatal glory.
Words worth knowing
Icarus
In Greek myth, the son of the craftsman Daedalus. He escaped on wings of feathers and wax, flew too near the sun and fell into the sea when the wax melted.
labyrinth
The maze on Crete in the myth, where Icarus and his father were held. The flight begins as an escape from it.
starlings
Small, dark, noisy songbirds that often fly in flocks.
plushy
Soft and thick, like plush fabric. Here it describes the surface of the ocean seen from above.
acclaiming
Praising loudly and publicly. Icarus greets the sun as if cheering it.
Context
Anne Sexton lived from 1928 to 1974. The poem has been on americanpoems.com since February 2003. It was Poem of the Day on October 30, 2006. Readers left 14 comments on it between 2005 and 2021.
What readers have said
Jennifer reads the poem as a call to seize the day. Icarus died, Jennifer says, but he reached his goal and more, and would have died sadly had he never tried to escape. Jennifer, 2005
leigh agrees and adds that the poem defies the traditional moral of the myth, that it is better to keep to the safe middle way. leigh, 2005
Jake thinks the title is not meant literally. Icarus did nothing triumphant, since his father gave him the wings, so the poem calls the friend's triumph short-lived. Jake, 2005
alice reads the title differently: the father's work triumphed because Icarus flew with it. alice, 2005
Katie hears verbal irony in the question about who cares that he fell. For Katie, part of the poem is that no one cares about Icarus. Katie, 2010
Geoff Loveman reads the poem as a warning to a friend that triumph can end in success or failure, and links the title to a poem by Yeats whose title is the same except that it ends in nothing. Geoff Loveman, 2010
I can not believe that not on has commented on this poem. Anyway, this poem is signifying the carpe deim theme. "Seize the Day" Basically, it is saying, so what if he died in the end, he still reached his goals. He would have died anyway, in saddness if he had not tried to escape the laberyninth. He died knowing that he had accomplished his main goal in life as well a reaching others that were higher, such as being able to see the sun. If anyone has any other views, please post them. I would be happy to see what someone else thinks about it.
vesAustralia
the poem is about life in a sense. Icarus represents youth, as he is willing to take risks and is inexperienced, flying towards the sun, while his father demonstrates the traits od old age and wisdom as he does not fly towards the sun and simply continues onwards. Finally the sun symbolizes the dangers in life and how taking risks can become part of reaching your goals.
leighUnited States
It is absolutely about seizing the day. And more than that, it is defiantly against the traditional "moral" of the story: that it is better to walk the safe middle line than to stray from it, where danger might lie. At the time, any cultural depiction of a woman "straying" always ended with tragedy (or with her ultimately returning to the "right" path - to be simply somebody's wife and somebody's mother. ) Because…
Read the whole comment
It is absolutely about seizing the day. And more than that, it is defiantly against the traditional "moral" of the story: that it is better to walk the safe middle line than to stray from it, where danger might lie. At the time, any cultural depiction of a woman "straying" always ended with tragedy (or with her ultimately returning to the "right" path - to be simply somebody's wife and somebody's mother. ) Because of her emotional troubles, Anne was constantly looking inward and had an intense concept of self, which, until recently, was reserved primarily for men. Women who had strong senses of self, and who made decisions based on them, were thought "selfish" "irresponsible" "bad mothers" and "bad wives." Anne is a voice to counter the fear and suspicion that so often accompany's a woman's success. And for that, I thank her.
AliciaUnited States
I definetly agree. It says how it is more important to take the risk and fail than to follow the "safe" path, as Daedalus did. Icarus lived a shorter, yet more complete life, rather than living long, boring.
JakeUnited States
The title of this poem is not one that is meant to be taken literally. Triumph? Icarus did not triumph. He did nothing to be triumphant, his father gave him the wings. To recieve this from her is an insult. Saying that your "triumph" was short-lived and ignorable. Sure he gave it his best effort....to bad it wasn't good enough. This also shows how just because he is a youth it's different. If he was an adult he would have been considered stupid for not heeding the warning.
ElizabethUnited States
One of the other themes in the poem is that triumph requires sacrifice. Nothing comes easily. Often the sacrifice is that the one who triumphs is seen as unusual or strange--witness the 'shocked starlings' who look at Icarus as a thing that is in the wrong place and the 'sensible daddy' who will, undoubtedly be congratulated for being so sensible. One of the reasons for success, Sexton says, is that one is willing to be exceptional. By the way, your site misquotes line 12. It should end with "Who cares that he fell back to the sea?" The poem is a sonnet, and scansion is important to the form of the poem.
I didn't interperet the title to be taken in a "Icarus triumphed because of his father's work" way. I understood it more in a "his father's work triumphed because Icarus did" way. A slight difference, but more meaningful, I think. Of course, poetry is subjective...
d
i think that anne sexton wrote this poem for a friend of hers. she mentions, 'consider icarus'. i suppose she is telling her friend to take icarus as an example, as he might have FAILED, but in a way, he still achieved something.
KatieUnited States
But isn't the poem also about how no one cares about him? See, "Who cares that he fell back to the sea?" Sounds slightly verbally ironic if you ask me. That might not be the theme, but it's true, right? Or why not, if you don't think so?
Seems to me that the poem is a warning to a friend, that a moment of triumph may ulimately end in success or failure, so take care! More importantly, Sexton obviously must have known the poem by William Butler Yeats - "To a Friend Whose Work Has Come To Nothing" and so it is more likely that Yeats' poem may have been addressed to a real person and Sexton's may not.
Annabella-Hazel
poem
I thought that the poem was written in a friendly way towards Icarus as an advice.
asl Buthayna
Ovid and Anne Sexton
Ann is defying the traditional view that Icarus is a hero! Heroes die? According to Ovid he is a teeanger who fails in the end.
F
It’s a very nice poem but I don’t get why the name was chosen.
kinda late but in my eyes this poem is signifying how no matter what Icarus did nothing mattered. When Icarus died no one cared and just continued on with his regular life. His actions were insignificant. On the other hand, if he stayed in the labyrinth he would eventually die there and still, no one would care.
I can not believe that not on has commented on this poem. Anyway, this poem is signifying the carpe deim theme. "Seize the Day" Basically, it is saying, so what if he died in the end, he still reached his goals. He would have died anyway, in saddness if he had not tried to escape the laberyninth. He died knowing that he had accomplished his main goal in life as well a reaching others that were higher, such as being able to see the sun. If anyone has any other views, please post them. I would be happy to see what someone else thinks about it.
the poem is about life in a sense. Icarus represents youth, as he is willing to take risks and is inexperienced, flying towards the sun, while his father demonstrates the traits od old age and wisdom as he does not fly towards the sun and simply continues onwards. Finally the sun symbolizes the dangers in life and how taking risks can become part of reaching your goals.
It is absolutely about seizing the day. And more than that, it is defiantly against the traditional "moral" of the story: that it is better to walk the safe middle line than to stray from it, where danger might lie. At the time, any cultural depiction of a woman "straying" always ended with tragedy (or with her ultimately returning to the "right" path - to be simply somebody's wife and somebody's mother. ) Because…
Read the whole commentIt is absolutely about seizing the day. And more than that, it is defiantly against the traditional "moral" of the story: that it is better to walk the safe middle line than to stray from it, where danger might lie. At the time, any cultural depiction of a woman "straying" always ended with tragedy (or with her ultimately returning to the "right" path - to be simply somebody's wife and somebody's mother. ) Because of her emotional troubles, Anne was constantly looking inward and had an intense concept of self, which, until recently, was reserved primarily for men. Women who had strong senses of self, and who made decisions based on them, were thought "selfish" "irresponsible" "bad mothers" and "bad wives." Anne is a voice to counter the fear and suspicion that so often accompany's a woman's success. And for that, I thank her.
I definetly agree. It says how it is more important to take the risk and fail than to follow the "safe" path, as Daedalus did. Icarus lived a shorter, yet more complete life, rather than living long, boring.
The title of this poem is not one that is meant to be taken literally. Triumph? Icarus did not triumph. He did nothing to be triumphant, his father gave him the wings. To recieve this from her is an insult. Saying that your "triumph" was short-lived and ignorable. Sure he gave it his best effort....to bad it wasn't good enough. This also shows how just because he is a youth it's different. If he was an adult he would have been considered stupid for not heeding the warning.
One of the other themes in the poem is that triumph requires sacrifice. Nothing comes easily. Often the sacrifice is that the one who triumphs is seen as unusual or strange--witness the 'shocked starlings' who look at Icarus as a thing that is in the wrong place and the 'sensible daddy' who will, undoubtedly be congratulated for being so sensible. One of the reasons for success, Sexton says, is that one is willing to be exceptional. By the way, your site misquotes line 12. It should end with "Who cares that he fell back to the sea?" The poem is a sonnet, and scansion is important to the form of the poem.
I didn't interperet the title to be taken in a "Icarus triumphed because of his father's work" way. I understood it more in a "his father's work triumphed because Icarus did" way. A slight difference, but more meaningful, I think. Of course, poetry is subjective...
i think that anne sexton wrote this poem for a friend of hers. she mentions, 'consider icarus'. i suppose she is telling her friend to take icarus as an example, as he might have FAILED, but in a way, he still achieved something.
But isn't the poem also about how no one cares about him? See, "Who cares that he fell back to the sea?" Sounds slightly verbally ironic if you ask me. That might not be the theme, but it's true, right? Or why not, if you don't think so?
To a Friend Whose Work Has Come To Triumph
Seems to me that the poem is a warning to a friend, that a moment of triumph may ulimately end in success or failure, so take care! More importantly, Sexton obviously must have known the poem by William Butler Yeats - "To a Friend Whose Work Has Come To Nothing" and so it is more likely that Yeats' poem may have been addressed to a real person and Sexton's may not.
poem
I thought that the poem was written in a friendly way towards Icarus as an advice.
Ovid and Anne Sexton
Ann is defying the traditional view that Icarus is a hero! Heroes die? According to Ovid he is a teeanger who fails in the end.
It’s a very nice poem but I don’t get why the name was chosen.
kinda late but in my eyes this poem is signifying how no matter what Icarus did nothing mattered. When Icarus died no one cared and just continued on with his regular life. His actions were insignificant. On the other hand, if he stayed in the labyrinth he would eventually die there and still, no one would care.