The myth of Daedalus and his son Icarus tells the story of father and son trying to escape possible punishment. Daedalus is a genius and engineers two wings with which they can fly away. Unfortunately, Icarus flies close to the sun despite his father's warning and his wings are ripped apart due to the melted wax thus he tumbles into the sea. John Updike's Icarus is a poem on the fears of flying in the wake of terrorist attacks on aeroplanes. Using a formalist critical approach, the paper discusses the use of ambiguity, allusions and concrete imagery literary styles in the poem.
The entire poem is an allusion to the myth of Daedalus and Icarus. The person is flying in an aeroplane and is fearful of the possibility of a terrorist attack. This experience is a direct allusion to the Daedalus as he was also afraid of the sun. The fear of the narrator is made clear when he sits next to a man possibly of an Arab origin, and he gets the impression that the man could be terrorist jus from his appearance (Updike stanza 1 line 2-3). The nature of the man alludes to the stereotype about terrorists. They are usually of Arabic origin and probably Muslim. With this stereotype in mind, the persona explains that one gets a tension that this could be a terrorist. To make matters worse, the man is carrying a black backpack which is a bomb to the narrator. The allusions inevitably create a tension in the poem as the narrator is kept on edge with fear and anxiety.
Anxiety is further heightened by the persona says that one supposedly feels a clock ticking which is an allusion to a ticking bomb. The person thinks that the black backpack contains the weapon that is slowly ticking away (Updike stanza 1 line 10). The persona can hear the clock ticking, and her fear rises with each tick. To add to this rising fear, the man conforms to the description of a real terrorist; the man in question is sweating and praying most of the time. The persona is convinced that the man is about to blow himself in line with what terrorists do just before they blow up. The plane is an allusion to the wings Daedalus creates while the danger of terrorism and its potential to blow the plane out of the sky is the danger that the sun poses to the wings worn by Icarus. The allusion maintains tension in the poem.
Ambiguity has also been employed extensively by the poet to create tension in the poem. At the airport lounge, the person observes that all is well and cheery as everyone waits to board the plane. The people are dressed gaily, and some flight crew is flirting with the blond pilot. In this flurry of activities, the passengers are oblivious of the danger that flying in a plane poses to them. The persona has some reservations about boarding the pale, but he does anyway. The person says, “Who would resist this vault into the impossible?” (Updike stanza 4 line 9-10). It ambiguous that the people are drawn to the allure of flying in an aeroplane but at the same time are fearful of the danger it poses. In the heat of the persona’s fear she asks the suspected terrorist, “Smooth flight so far.” The man jus answers, “so far.” (Updike stanza 3 line 1-2). According to the persona, the reply meant that the flight was on smooth up to that point and would take a turn for the worst. From the restlessness of the man, it can be deduced that he was having trouble with the flight, but the persona feels the behaviour is suspicious and he could be a terrorist.
Imagery has been used extensively to add to the mental fear of the persona. Everything the passenger imagines is related to a tragic ending, and she keeps imagining the plane blown up. The persona imagines stuff falling out of the sky as result of a bomb tearing up the plane. He says, "Who wants to have all their careful packing—the travellers’ checks, the folded underwear—end as floating sea-wrack five miles below.” (Updike stanza 2 line 1-3). The expression is an image of a plane blown up with stuff floating in the sky. The person's fear makes him imagine everything about bombs and an attack. He mentions the plane scraping against the numbed sky an image of wreckage in the sky. These images greatly enhance the tension of the poem. Further, the persona describes the plane as "sheathed tangled wires… with a million rivets."(Updike stanza 6 line 2-3). These are images of a bomb that the person keeps imagining. The poet deliberately uses the images to create tension in the poem due to the feeling of imminent danger. The persona helps to build the tension through his perception of almost as terrorist-related. It is the fear that creates weird mental images.
In conclusion, the poet extensively uses the style to build tension and anxiety in the poem. The ambiguous nature of the plane travel comes out clearly when the persona is thrilled with flying while at the same time he is fearful of flying due to the potential of terrorist attacks. The mental images in the persona’s mind are a deliberate effort by the author to portray the persona’s fear of terrorism. The poem itself is an allusion to the Greek mythology of Daedalus and Icarus represented by the plane and the danger it faces.
Work Cited
Updike, John. "John Updike's Icarus". Lookingglassicarus.Blogspot.Com, 2018, http://lookingglassicarus.blogspot.com/2009/09/john-updikes-icarus.html. Accessed 26 Oct 2018.
