Daisy Mella

Mrs. Jane Jacques

English 104

15 October 2021

Essay: “Waiting for Icarus” by Muriel Rukeyser

In Muriel Rukeyser's "Waiting for Icarus," it appears that the woman's longing for

Icarus' return was meaningless as he never sought to keep his promises. The woman begins

by introducing the commitments Icarus was supposed to fulfill to her. She mentions that

Icarus would be back, insinuating that she and Icarus had to part ways but convinced her that

he was determined to return. The poem speaks about the events that occurred when Icarus left

his lover and later on divulges the outcome of her waiting. She describes the efforts she made

driven by the belief that Icarus would fulfill his promises, yet her beloved really had no

intention of coming back in the end.

When Icarus made these vows to the woman, he urged her to stay on the shore and

wait for him, knowing it was meaningless as he knew full well that he never intended to

emerge again. The woman claimed to have been holding on to Icarus' words as she awaited

his return. "I've been waiting all day, or possibly longer," (Rukeyser 19) she says,

acknowledging that the promises have been broken. Consequently, the stanza says that her

being made to assume that he would deliver on his promises was sole because she was

deceived into thinking Icarus meant it. Icarus possessed the ability to return but lacked the

commitment to do so. She claims that if she possessed the same capability as Icarus, she

would make a greater effort to effectuate her plegdes, especially to someone you feel strongly
towards. It is apparent that his intentions were not set to come back, and that he only made

those statements to make his lover feel better at that moment. As he vanishes to accomplish

his ambitions, the woman is left with empty promises that ended up being pointless.

Upon waiting for Icarus to return, the woman receives several critiques from her

friends and mother. In the second stanza, it is written, "I remember mother saying: Inventors

are like poets, a trashy lot," (Rukeyser 16) implying that the woman's mother already

suspected that Icarus would lie about returning, presuming he had previously made false

promises. Her mother refers to Icarus as "a trashy lot," meaning that he was one to disappoint

others and would therefore not be surprising if he had abandoned his lover. She also faces

criticism from her friends, giving the impression that Icarus is untrustworthy when it comes

to making commitments to her. During the wait, her family and peers wonder if his intention

truly was to return, or if he simply left her with hollow promises. The woman claims that the

girls would laugh at her, taunting her and that the reason Icarus departed was merely to get

away from her. This proposes that Icarus most certainly deserted her, as this accusation would

not have been made if there was substantial evidence to support it. The fact that he left her to

wait for an extended period of time is ample verification to prove them accurate, which is

why her waiting was pointless.

Icarus promised his lover that they were on the cusp of a new relationship and that he

would not wince in front of his father again, hinting that troubles in their relationship were

already arising. These issues could have been one of the reasons Icarus left to never return.

Friends of the woman speculated that Icarus had always wanted to find a way to escape her,

possibly due to his father being one of the factors. Icarus may possibly have been unable to

keep his vow to improve their relationship. As a result, he promises her his return, as well as
leaving her with many more expectations. This was already determinant that he would not

return to keep his commitments.

Throughout the poem, the woman bemoans the time she wasted waiting for Icarus,

only to discover that it was all in vain. She recalls his empty promises to her, such as "he said

he'd come back and we'd drink wine together," (Rukeyser 1) which he never kept. She

remembers the times she had to wait for his return and how she had forgotten how long she

had to wait. This demonstrates that she realized he had abandoned her and that waiting for

Icarus would be futile because he had no intention of returning. In the third stanza, it was

stated “I would like to try those wings myself. It would have been better than this” (Rukeyser

20) denoting that the woman recognized her wait for Icarus was futile and that her time was

squandered because Icarus' promises were never bound to be fulfilled regardless.

 Works Cited

Rukeyser, Muriel. “Waiting for Icarus.” Poemhunter, 11 December 2015,

https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/waiting-for-icarus/