“Musee des Beaux Arts” is a short poem by W. H. Auden and focuses on suffering.
Auden chooses to focus on the way suffering goes unnoticed. The speaker tells of people going on about daily activities- eating, opening windows, walking- and how they don’t realize others are suffering while they do so. There are some who don’t particularly want to live, or wish for death, or go on with unmentioned pain in their lives, referred to by the speaker with his bit on the child skating on a pond at the edge of the wood.
The speaker also proves his point with the animals of the poem. The dog goes on in blissful ignorance, much like the torturer’s horse, who does not know his rider’s occupation. And how can we judge them for it? The horse cannot understand who rides it, and is content to just be without much thought of it at all.
Lastly, the speaker mentions Icarus and his fall from the sky. They note how everyone seemed content not to notice this miracle, consumed in their mundane activities. He notes how someone must have seen it, this miracle of a boy falling into the sea, and yet chose to carry on with life. This is much like how someone can observe pain and suffering in someone else, yet do nothing to intervene. In a way, it is natural for them to ignore such a sight and simply go on with their own lives, as it is more comfortable that way.