The skating children in Auden’s poem and Bruegel’s painting represent humans as a whole: skating through life just hoping that nothing will change, but always on the brink – “On a pond at the edge of the wood” – of something amazing and incredible, if only they would look for it.
Here are 4 links that tell you everything about the poem and paintings:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mus%C3%A9e_des_Beaux_Arts_(poem)
http://poetrypages.lemon8.nl/life/musee/museebeauxarts.htm
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/mus-eacute-e-des-beaux-arts/
http://www.ayjw.org/articles.php?id=523637
