back to nature

“All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace” by Richard Brautigan is a very satirical poem about how technology is destroying our world. This begins in the first stanza, line 3, where a “cybernetic meadow” is imagined then goes on to say that animals and computers would “live together in mutually programming harmony.” The tone of this poem, so far, is completely ironic because essentially it would be impossible for the cyber world to take over the beauty of mother nature. This satire continues in the second stanza when “deer stroll past computers as if they were flowers.” Such phrasing sets up thoughts that technology has become to quintessential to our everyday lives that animals, too, now can completely disregard such things as computers in nature because it has become somewhat natural. Finally, the last stanza closes with talk of a “cybernetic ecology” where all are “watched over by machines.” Essentially, we as a human race, are already being watched over by technology because of the strong attachment to our cell phones, laptops, televisions, etc.

Contradictory to this point of view, Brautigan’s poem could be taken in such a way that one thinks technology is beauty that cannot be replaced and now has become “natural” to us as a human race. This begins in the first stanza with the parenthetical note in lines 1-2 “(and the sooner the better!)...“mutually” will animals and technology be one with each other. The poem continues with another note in the second stanza “(right now, please!)” which conveys the idea that technology is ready to be one with nature so that “deer [can] stroll...past computers” and not think twice about how the flowers they once knew are now large rectangular, man-made pieces of electronics. Finally, the last stanza almost insists that technology and mammals will live together in nature one day because it “has to be!” because it is the new “natural” ideal for humans, so other animals, therefore, should accept it as well.

Although both interpretations of this poem are compelling, I believe that Brautigan is truly anti-technology and conveys this through irony and satire. With the 21^st century upon us, and technology at every bit of our finger tips, we as a human race have lost our connection with the natural world around us. We are more concerned with what e-mail we need to check on our Blackberry or what song to play next on our iPod. I think that it is through this satirical tone that Brautigan conveys his wish that humans connect back with nature.