Here, Field is drawing attention to the displacement of hero status. Also, Icarus wonders what he is doing in a suburb at the end of the second stanza. In the first stanza, Icarus swims away from the scene of his ‘drowning’ and finally rents a house in the city. He builds the theme of displacement from this foundation. Displacement – Field lays the foundation for displacement by placing the mythological Icarus in a modern context.But he cannot tell people he had once ‘controlled huge wings’ because they would not understand. This continues in the second stanza when Icarus tries to fit into suburban life. Death is the ultimate estrangement from other people. Although Icarus is alive, this symbolic death focuses the reader’s attention on alienation. It begins in the first stanza when the police ‘ignore the confusing aspects of the case’ and record Icarus as dead. Alienation – The thread of alienation is stitched throughout the poem.He is displaced and becomes alienated from society.Īlienation and displacement are two themes in the poem. Normal life, however, does not suit Icarus. In his poem, Icarus does not drown but swims away and rents a house in the city. Fields takes up the story here and adapts it to a modern context. He falls, plunges into the sea, and drowns. The Icarus in Greek mythology flies too close to the sun, causing his artificial wings to melt. In ‘ Icarus’, Field uses the mythological story of Icarus and Daedalus as a frame for his poem. Forced to live a normal existence, the hero is out of place and alienated from society. ‘ Icarus’ by Edward Field places the mythological Icarus in a modern context.