In "Musee des Beaux Arts", WH Auden explores human responses to tragedy across cultures through details of the settings of paintings within the "Musee des Beaux Arts". Although the poem can be read as a hymn to human resilience in the face of tragedy, the constantly fluctuating description between the tragic event and ordinary activities suggests that humans can never truly detach themselves from the disaster. Furthermore, the dissonance between the high culture theme and the simplistic format of the poem is created by Auden to criticize the tendency of the "old" artistic "Masters" to dissociate emotionally from the tragic events they depict. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayAuden, throughout the verse, uses frequent allusions to the outside world of the "Musee", to present both humanity and natural forces as capable of overcoming the suffering caused by tragic events, however, neither proves entirely separable from the tragedy. There is a semantic field of everyday activity throughout the poem, including and especially the described actions of people during a tragic event, even if it is "eating or opening a window or just walking dully." Here, the catalog of present participles paired with the list form is indicative of the ability of humans to continue with communal activities amid the ongoing tragedy, and the subsequent declarative states that "there must always be / Children who purposely don't want it" . capita' further celebrates the human capacity to remain unperturbed in the face of 'suffering', with the deliberate allusion to youth through the collective noun 'children' reinforcing the impressive ability of both young and old to carry on with their daily lives after a traumatic event. just as a painting cannot exist without a frame, through a similar "framing" the poem in reference to suffering suggests that neither humans nor the natural world can be completely detached from the trauma of tragic events, and that it is these experiences that in fact they give shape to their existence. An example is the phrase 'the sun shone/As it should on white legs disappearing into the green/Water': placing the moment of suffering amidst allusions to the natural world further gives the suffering human being a significant role in moving the water, which is presented as passive as opposed to active, and enjambment fosters a sense of movement and activity created by the moment of tragedy, and enjambment is again used to similar effect in the declarative 'the torturer's horse/ He scratches his innocent behind on a tree' in which the horse is defined in terms of an orchestrator of the tragedy to suggest that even those who perceive themselves as not involved in the tragedy cannot escape the effects. By placing this phrase in the emphatic position of the final line of the first stanza, Auden supports claims of human detachment from tragedy, foregrounding the poem's overall message that the impact of tragedy is always experienced on an unconscious or conscious level, by everyone and from everything. The series of references to different cultures, from the untranslated French title ('Musee des Beaux Arts'), to the Greek myth of 'Icarus', to the English language of the poem, further amplifies the tragedy's ability to cross cultures and cultures. they continue to influence lives even today. Through the sustained use of ekphrasis, the poet criticizes the artist's ability to detach himself from the emotional meaning of his own artwork while creating it. The first verse, although announcing a tragic scene, does not.