Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Analyzing "All Watched over by Machines of Loving Grace"

At first glance, the poem "All Watched over by Machines of Loving Grace" by Richard Brautigan seems to have this message of pro-technology but delving into the poem it can also be translated as a means to be against technology. In the beginning of each stanza, there is a line in parentheses that seems to pop out in a sarcastic manner, causing me to believe that those lines are intended to be against the rise of technology. The first stanza, for example, has this line: "I like to think (and the sooner the better!) of a cybernetic meadow" which takes the poem in an unorthodox approach to what i believe sarcasm. It even comes off a bit sardonic because the poem reads so Utopian; Brautigan makes this vision of the future seem almost impossible because nature and technology are two completely different aspects of life.
Going back to my first impression, there are many instances of pro-technological vibes coming from this poem. The poem in its self has descriptions of nature and technology living together in harmony and even describes this through imagery of combinations of the two. Lines such as " cybernetic meadow" and "spinning meadows" causes me to imagine a forest where the plants are electronics that take the from of trees, flowers and bushes. Brautigan's denotations of this poem are in favor of technology because as the last stanza declares, he wants to be able to forget about society and live among "our mammal brothers and sisters" while being "watched over by machines of loving grace."
In my opinion, the reading of the poem which is anti-technological is more convincing to me because I don't believe that Brautigan meant for people to take this piece as a literal message of nature complementing technology but rather more of a message of nature versus technology. Since the dawn of technology, people have been fearful of the day when the machine would take over and destroy its creator and Brautigan is aware that these two elements are never meant to share the world as equals. The poem, although deceiving at first, is meant for the reader to become fearful of technology and be aware of the current power it holds in today's (and even in his time) society. To be honest, the idea of being "watched over by machines of loving grace" does not seem appealing at all.

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