N"musée des beaux arts" by w. h. auden, what is the response of the people who see icarus fall into the sea?
a. they try to rescue icarus and pull him from the water before he drowns.
b. they fall to their knees in fear, thinking they have seen the death of a god.
c. they pity icarus and feel that he should have listened to his father's instructions.
d. they do nothing and simply go about their day.

D. They do nothing and simply go about their day.

Explanation:

Wystan Hugh Auden wrote the poem  "Musée des Beaux Arts" based from the famous painting with the name "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus" by Pieter Bruegel, the Elder. The poem is a literal description of the painting.

The famous story of Icarus trying to reach the sun is all too known. And by depicting the fall, Auden seem to be suggesting that no matter what happens to someone, people tend to be concerned only about themselves. The painting and the poem shows just how uninterested the people are when Icarus reached the water. The people in the poem and painting do nothing to help him out of the water or save him. They simply just go about their day, not even giving it much of a thought. The lines from the poem rightly says so,

... the ploughman may

Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry,

But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone

As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green

Water, and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen

Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky,

Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.

a. is the correct answer