Let our lakes receive as true names at least as the
Icarian Sea, where "still the shore" a "brave attempt resounds."
They surged to and fro like the waves of the
Icarian Sea, when the east and south winds break from heaven's clouds to lash them; or as when the west wind sweeps over a field of corn and the ears bow beneath the blast, even so were they swayed as they flew with loud cries towards the ships, and the dust from under their feet rose heavenward.
(31) These were the experiences lived by one of Lissagaray's fellow Communards, Louise Michel, whose communalist sentiments could be detected by others, even as far away the
Icarian colony of Iowa.
Writing in 1980, he describes the descent back to street level from the "summit of the World Trade Center" as an "
Icarian fall," and laments the fact that "It's hard to be down when you're up" (92).
The artist's work, however, evinces a deep skepticism about such positivism and idealism; such
Icarian flights of fancy, he suggests, can only end with a crash landing, even if humankind seems unlikely to learn due modesty from its repeated failures anytime soon.
This sweeping view of the distant and of the detail is called the
Icarian view.
Fondane's parasuicidal behaviour was two-faceted: as mentioned above, he frequently changed his name in his youth for publication purposes in an effort to abandon his Jewish ancestry (then he used Fundoianu/Fondane) or, on the contrary, to strengthen it (then he used Jewish names) in an "
Icarian" adventure of sorts; he also exposed himself most of the times deliberately to dangers that could bring about his death (the movement to France, the visits to his house in Paris, his refusal to leave the concentration camp).
This unique extravaganza showcases only the best in entertainment; witness acrobats defying gravity as the ancient discipline '
Icarian Games' returns to centre stage.
The suggestion of a community of persons, voluntarily secluding themselves--a scenario resembling that which Vincent had already begun to envision for his Yellow House--calls to mind a range of nineteenth-century socialist schemes, from Charles Fourier's plans for phalanges; to experimental Fourierist settlements in Conde-sur-Vesgre and Citeaux; to Cabet's
Icarian communities in Texas, Louisiana, and Illinois.
Finally, it illustrates how the different patterns of meaning continue to evolve during the last stage of the poet's life to become ultimately, through a synthesizing creative act, D'Annunzio's
Icarian mythopoesis.
That he needlessly trod the wire at Whitehall with a risky digression on the socially tumbling Essex, however, suggests connections between the overreaching dramatist and the
Icarian earl.