In poetry, the use of allusions is very common. There are briefs, usually indirect references to another work or to real or historical events or persons, traditionally as a way of connecting those elements as well as enriching the meaning of the current work through associations with the other. In his poem "Musee des Beaux Arts", W.H. Auden uses allusions as a way of drawing connections between his poem, Peter Brueghel's painting " The Fall of Icarus", the myth, and the humanity indifference toward one's suffering.

Icarus, the subject of this poem, was a figure from Greek mythology. He was the son of Dedalus, who, in order to escape from prison in Crete, made two pairs of wings, one for him and one for his son, Icarus. As Icarus and Dedalus flied away, Icarus forgot his father's warning and flied too close to the sun. The wax on...