The Flight of Icarus

The Flight of Icarus

Greek Myth retold by Sally Benson

Vocabulary

• labyrinth

• Crete

• ingenious

• misgivings

• moderate

• prowess

• frantic/frantically

Vocabulary

• anxiety

• enchanted

• Sicily

• Apollo

• mourned

• theme

• myth

We are learing to

• Analyze the elements of plot in a story

• Explore themes of a story

Multiple Select

The elements of plot are:

• exposition

• rising action

• climax

• falling action

• resolution

Read the Background information

Multiple Select

Myths are stories that

• have been passed down through countless generations.

• are based on an elaborate system of beliefs.

• offer wisdom about life.

• are from Greek mythology.

A Myth

is a traditional story that attempts to answer basic questions about human nature or the natural world. In a myth, events occur that cannot happen in real life, and characters also have unusual or even supernatural powers.

We are learning to read the exposition of a story to identify the

• characters

• setting

• conflict

Let's read the exposition!

to find out about the setting, characters, and the conflict they will face.

Open Ended

Who are the main characters?

Multiple Select

The setting can be described as

• on an island in the middle of the sea off the coast of Crete, during ancient times

• In a high tower during the late 1900's

• July of 2020, off the coast of Ensenada on a beautiful day at the beach

Open Ended

What is the conflict they face?

The Rising Action

Begins on page 31, line 10

Daedalus was an ingenious artist and was not discouraged

by his failures. “Minos may control the land and sea,” he said,

“but he does not control the air. I will try that way.”

He called his son, Icarus, to him and told the boy to gather up all the feathers he could find on the rocky shore.

He called his son, Icarus, to him and told the boy to gather up all the feathers he could find on the rocky shore.

As thousands of gulls soared over the island, Icarus soon collected a huge pile of feathers. Daedalus then melted some wax and made a skeleton in the shape of a bird’s wing. The smallest feathers he pressed into the soft wax and the large ones he tied on with thread. Icarus played about on the beach happily while his father worked, chasing the feathers that blew away in the strong wind that swept the island and sometimes taking bits of the wax and working it into strange shapes with his fingers.

 It was fun making the wings. The sun shone on the bright feathers; the breezes ruffled them. When they were finished, Daedalus fastened them to his shoulders and found himself lifted upwards, where he hung poised in the air. Filled with excitement, he made another pair for his son. They were

smaller than his own, but strong and beautiful.

       Finally, one clear, wind-swept morning, the wings were finished, and Daedalus fastened them to Icarus’s shoulders

and taught him how to fly. He bade him watch the movements of the birds, how they soared and glided overhead. He pointed

out the slow, graceful sweep of their wings as they beat the air steadily, without fluttering.

Close Read

Soon Icarus was sure that he, too, could fly and, raising his arms up and down, skirted over the white sand and even out over the waves, letting his feet touch the snowy foam as the water thundered and broke over the sharp rocks. Daedalus watched him proudly but with misgivings. He called Icarus to his side and, putting his arm round the boy’s shoulders, said, “Icarus, my son, we are about to make our flight. No human being has ever traveled through the air before, and I want you to listen carefully to my instructions. Keep at a moderate height, for if you fly too low, the fog and spray will clog your wings, and if you fly too high, the heat will melt the wax that holds them together. Keep near me and you will be safe.”

Listen to the Close Read Screencast

He kissed Icarus and fastened the wings more securely to his son’s shoulders. Icarus, standing in the bright sun, the shining wings dropping gracefully from his shoulders, his golden hair wet with spray, and his eyes bright and dark with excitement, looked like a lovely bird. Daedalus’s eyes filled with tears, and turning away, he soared into the sky, calling to Icarus to follow. From time to time, he looked back to

see that the boy was safe and to note how he managed his wings in his flight. As they flew across the land to test their prowess before setting out across the dark wild sea, plowmen below stopped their work and shepherds gazed in wonder, thinking Daedalus

and Icarus were gods.

Multiple Choice

The line, Daedalus's eyes filled with tears is

• personification

• foreshadowing

• irony

• metaphor

 Father and son flew over Samos and Delos, which lay on their left, and Lebinthus,[1]which lay on their right. Icarus, beating his wings in joy, felt the thrill of the cool wind on his face and the clear air above and below him. He flew higher and higher up into the blue sky until he reached the clouds. His father saw him and called out in alarm. He tried to follow him, but he was heavier and his wings would not carry him. Up and up Icarus soared, through the soft, moist clouds and

out again toward the glorious sun.

He was bewitched by a sense of freedom and beat his wings frantically so that they would carry him higher and higher to heaven itself. The blazing sun beat down on the wings and softened the wax. Small feathers fell from the wings and floated softly down, warning Icarus to stay his flight and glide to earth. But the enchanted boy did not notice them until the sun became so hot that the largest feathers dropped off and he began to sink. Frantically he fluttered his arms, but no feathers remained to hold the air. He cried out to his father, but his voice was submerged in the blue waters of the sea, which has forever after been called by his name.

Daedalus, crazed by anxiety, called back to him, “Icarus! Icarus, my son, where are you?”

At last he saw the feathers floating from the sky, and soon his son plunged through the clouds into the sea. Daedalus hurried to save him, but it was too late. He gathered the boy in his arms and flew to land, the tips of his wings dragging in the water from the double burden they bore. Weeping bitterly, he buried his small son and called the land Icaria in his memory.

Then, with a flutter of wings, he once more took to the air, but the joy of his flight was gone and his victory over the air was bitter to him. He arrived safely in Sicily, where he built a temple to Apollo and hung up his wings as an offering to the god, and in the wings he pressed a few bright feathers he had found floating on the water where Icarus fell. And he mourned for the birdlike son who had thrown caution to the

winds in the exaltation of his freedom from the earth.

COLLABORATIVE DISCUSSION

In the last sentence, the author says that Icarus “had thrown caution to the winds”—he had made a bold and risky move. How had both Icarus and Daedalus made bold and risky moves? Share your ideas with your group.

Compare Texts:

Rogue Wave & "The Flight of Icarus"

The Plot: Create a plot diagram for the Flight of Icarus

• The expostion

• Rising Action

• Climax

• Falling Action

• Resolution

Thinking about Theme

What are the possible themes of the myth, "The Flight of Icarus"?

Open Ended

What does it mean to "throw caution to the wind"?

Critical Vocabulary & Vocabulary Strategy, page 37

• WE are learning to use context clues to explain the meaning of a word

• We are learning that suffixes can change the meaning of a base word

Language Conventions: Commas and Coordinate Adjectives, page 38

• we are learning to separate two adjective with a comma

• We are practicing using powerful adjectives when we write

• we are learning that coordinate adjectives modify a noun