Analyzing Waiting for Icarus by Muriel Rukeyser Essay

Muriel Rukeyser takes the story of Icarus and morphs the story to focus on the thoughts of Icarus lover, after the fall in her poem, Waiting for Icarus. She zoomed out to the bigger picture and showed how the death of a loved one affected others. Rukeyser also changed parts of the myth to suit her version of the story better, and to give it more of a modern day relation. By adding a double meaning to the wings as a way of leaving the girl, the real reason behind the wings was rewritten and leaves the reader wondering if suicide is what Icarus truly intended. Rukeyser makes a few changes to the traditional myth to suit her new modern theme. In the original Greek myth, Icarus is trapped in the Labyrinth and his father, who is an inventor, creates the wings in order for them to escape the maze. (Encyclopedia Britannica) In the poem, it seems as if Icarus lives a normal life as an aspiring inventor, not a prisoner. His father was the true inventor though instead of his Icarus. Also, if he was trapped in the maze he would not have a girlfriend. The authors intentions for these changes though were to establish a normal life for the main character also she added routine things that the couple would normally do, such as coming home and drinking wine together. If he was trapped in the Labyrinth, then she could not have told the story of Icarus death from anothers eyes unless it was his father, Daedalus. One of the main symbols of Icarus mythical death is the wings crafted out of wax. In the Greek myth, the wings are used as a way of escape, or for a better life. In the poem the wings have the same meaning but just in a very different situation. Instead of the wings being used for a way of actually escape from a place, they...