At the juncture in the narrative wherein we are introduced to the gates, Virgil takes over as the narrator and addresses Icarus, remarking on how overcome he was with grief that he couldn’t carve the fall of his son. This relationship of art to de

(Virgil, tr. Fagles, b. VI, l. 1015-1018)

What famous children in your line will come

Your great part, Icarus, had grief allowed.

And call by his own name his people Romans

For these I set no limits, world or time

Is the gateway likened to a passing of death? Yes. Does it, as a work of art, also signify the idea of rebirth? If we suppose rebirth to be the founding of Rome, than all discussed areas, such as the form of the arch, and its chronological appearance between the end of Aeneas’ journey and the prelude to his taking of Rome, would implicate the affirmative. The absence of Icarus’ fall from the gateway, under careful reading and reasoning through an art historical consideration, only furthers this into plausibility. In this sense, the idea of death in Book VI, while not overtly beyond the narrative as opposed to the lyrical content of the poem, is linked to an idea of rebirth. It is art that summons this idea of self-recognition into being, by providing for us a metaphor for the larger narrational content.

The fact that Daedalus is too overcome with grief to render in sculpture the death of his son, Icarus, reveals another dimension to the chronology of chapters. It is possible that this may be an analogy for what Aeneas is truly leaving behind, which is death or loss, but it can also be said, as previously mentioned, that the absence of Icarus promises that a new life, such as that of Rome, can take its place. Hence, the absence of Icarus is the absence of Troy. When he passes through the gates, perhaps it is read to convey how he must finalize within himself, before he founds the city of Rome, the loss of Troy and the loss of the life he led before embarking on his journey. I am supposing this not based on literal evidence from Book VI, but simply from reading Book VI in context of where it is placed in the narrative. I am further convinced by the fact that after he passes into the underworld and is led by Sibyl, he encounters his father, Aniches, who gives the second eventful!

Daedalus’ gateway is void of Icarus, his son, and is a testimony to the grievance of the passing of a loved one in what it does not represent. However, does this lack of representation suggest that it is possible, in the absence of grief, to move forward? Is the blank space that was meant for Icarus a testimony of grief, or, by its present

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Approximate Word count = 1598
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)