Icarus' Lament (The Lady Lever Art Gallery) - Poetry in Response to Art

The Lady Lever gallery in Port Sunlight was founded by William Hesketh Lever who was a multimillionaire businessman, entrepreneur and philanthropist who lived from 1851-1925. He made his fortune manufacturing soap with his brother who set up the firm of Lever Brothers. By 1888 he had built large factory on the Wirral shore of the river Mersey in Port Sunlight.

This impressive Edwardian building is one of the best private collections of art available to the viewing public in the UK. It boasts a massive collection of classical art including sculptures and paintings, and also an extensive collection of De Morgan Ceramics and Chinese art work.

For me as a poet, wandering around the Lady Lever is an exercise in contemplation. I have always found the quiet of galleries to be great sources of inspiration and a catalyst to kick a stagnant creative brain into gear. I've never visited this gallery before, and it definitely proved the tonic I needed to inspire a good few poems for my 'Month of Daily Poems Challenge.'

Ekphrastic Poetry - Icarus' Lament

The Lament for Icarus, by Herbert Draper, is one of the paintings on display. The painting depicts the mythical fall of Icarus, son of Daedalus. In legend Icarus fell into the sea and was drowned when flying with his father from Crete over the Aegean. Daedalus, mythical sculptor, architect and inventor of flying, made wings for himself and his son, but Icarus flew too near the sun, the wax with which the wings were fastened melted and he was killed. The Icarian sea is named after him.

This painting caught my eye as the myth holds particular allegorical relevance to us today as technological advances start to outpace our ability to weigh consequence. It is with these thoughts that this poem was written in response to the painting.

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Icarus' Lament

Ocean awakens as rain bleeds from nimbus' heart,
in night’s prowling embrace I hear a lament
crackling in quickening cement,

popping at the foundation of stone towers,
swirling in the tide’s abandonment,
hissing in plastic sediment,

wordless in finning drift
of poisoned shoals of poisson.

Earth shudders as moneyed monkeys
launch arks sailing to the sun,
explorers boldly escaping atmosphere

to bleed distant spheres,
insulated from Icarus' hubris -
Oroborus destroying infinitely.

Now naiads slumber at Poseidon's feet
bereft of Mana born of belief,
indifferent to this Icarus incarnation
lamenting Gaea's grief.

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I will be sharing further poems over the next few days that I wrote in response to art at the Lady Lever gallery.

Thanks for reading, and if you have enjoyed this poem be sure to check back in over the next few days for more of the same 📜🙂

All images in this post are my own, taken at the gallery. If you have enjoyed this poetry/art post please check out my homepage @raj808 for similar content.

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