A Martian Sends A Postcard Home Analysis

Author: Poetry of Craig Raine Type: Poetry Views: 2942

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Caxtons are mechanical birds with many wings

and some are treasured for their markings --they cause the eyes to melt

or the body to shriek without pain.I have never seen one fly, but

sometimes they perch on the hand.Mist is when the sky is tired of flight

and rests its soft machine on ground:then the world is dim and bookish

like engravings under tissue paper.Rain is when the earth is television.

It has the property of making colours darker.Model T is a room with the lock inside --

a key is turned to free the worldfor movement, so quick there is a film

to watch for anything missed.But time is tied to the wrist

or kept in a box, ticking with impatience.In homes, a haunted apparatus sleeps,

that snores when you pick it up.If the ghost cries, they carry it

to their lips and soothe it to sleepwith sounds. And yet they wake it up

deliberately, by tickling with a finger.Only the young are allowed to suffer

openly. Adults go to a punishment roomwith water but nothing to eat.

They lock the door and suffer the noisesalone. No one is exempt

and everyone's pain has a different smell.At night when all the colours die,

they hide in pairsand read about themselves --

in colour, with their eyelids shut.

Does any one know what ideas are communicated about the human race ?
He is talking about a printer with Caxton, because it is one of the first british printers.

.: Poem Analysis from Bob :.

\"A Martian Sends a Postcard Home\" is a poem with seventeen stanzas. All of the
stanzas have two lines. At first the title of this poem was kind of tricky for me because
it made me think that it was about an actual Martian. It took me a while to figure out
that he was talking about things that happen in everyday life in earth. Basically
something a Martian would send home if he was on a vacation to earth is what the
poem focuses on.
Analysis
Raine uses several riddles in this poem to show what the Martian sees when he comes
to earth. He does a very good job in doing this. For example, the first stanza of the
poem is talking about a book. Caxton was the first English printer of books.
Mechanical birds with wings refers to the pages in a book. By saying they are
treasured for their markings means that if a person enjoys reading a book they will
treasure it. Raine also refers to a book in the next four lines.
Stanza six comes out straight forward and lets us realize that Raine is talking about
fog. It uses words such as clouds. By using context clues we understand the true
interpretation. When Raine says \"rain is when the earth is television\" he means that
the TV is snowy. This is a very good metaphor for rain because it does kind of make
the TV look like it is raining.
The seventh and eighth stanzas are talking about a car. This is simple as Raine refers
to \"Model T.\" Raine gives good examples of the car in a Martian�s eyes. For
instance, \"Model T is a room with the locks inside.\" I like this line a lot because I
have never seen a car in this way before. Raine says it is a room because you go inside
of the car and you are away from the outside world. You need a key to turn the car on
and off and to lock the car.
In this next stanza Raine did a great job of describing a watch or clock. \"Ticking with
impatience\" is right of the button. That is all a watch and clock do is tick for twenty
four hours a day.
Stanza ten, eleven, and twelve are on the subject of a telephone. All the phone is what
Raine writes in this poem. It does not do anything until you pick it up and that is what
Raine is saying. The cries of the ghost is when it rings. Then you \"talk to it\", or
answer it and when you are finished \"put it back to sleep\" or hang it up. Yes, we
do \"deliberately wake it and tickle it with a finger\" when we answer it or call
someone else.
A \"punishment room with just water\" is a bathroom. I just love these next three
stanzas because I love the bathroom. I just don�t think of it as a \"punishment
room.\" When Raine writes \"only the young are allowed to suffer openly\" he is
talking about a baby getting their diapers changed in the open. Yet adults have to go
to the bathroom and suffer our pain alone. Raine had exceptional use of metaphors to
describe the bathroom.
The last two stanzas are about sleeping and dreaming. \"When the colours die\" is
when we go to bed. \"Reading about ourselves with our eyelids shut\" is basically
saying we are dreaming of ourselves. Raine put this at a good spot in the poem
because the end of the poem symbolizes the end of the day.

With regard to the idea that \"a film to watch for anything missed\" may refer to rear
or side view mirrors: I don\'t think the Model T had either of these...the interpretation
doesn\'t quite fit :\\

The chunk about the \"punishment room\" i think is about passing gas because the
young and immature can \"suffer the noises\" openly but the adults have to go to the
bathroom (\"punishment room with water but nothing to eat\") \"no one is exempt\"
from gassing, and \"everyone\'s pain has a different smell.\" the noise, and smell and
then adults not being allowed to do it in public all support that it\'s gas.

The Model T is obviously referring to a car. Any other interpretation of that line is
just plain ridiculous

All right, there is no need to tell what meant what...!

It is OPEN TO INTERPRETATION otherwise Craig Raine would have used a
different method for writing this poem.
however keep in mind MODEL T WAS PRODUCED between 1908-1927. Raine,
being born in 1944 probably has not personally used the vehicle. (new vehicles could
have been) Yet interpretation is required, leaving NO RIGHT ANSWER, so quit
being SMARTASSES, those of you who impose your way of seeing stuff.
In any case, I never heard of T Model TV...google doesn't have it so I don't know
what to say.
PS: Im 15, Im not a Phd in anything...yet that does not mean i have no voice about it.
Peace
(oh and im researching this for school)

All right, there is no need to tell what meant what...!

It is OPEN TO INTERPRETATION otherwise Craig Raine would have used a
different method for writing this poem.
however keep in mind MODEL T WAS PRODUCED between 1908-1927. Raine,
being born in 1944 probably has not personally used the vehicle. (new vehicles could
have been) Yet interpretation is required, leaving NO RIGHT ANSWER, so quit
being SMARTASSES, those of you who impose your way of seeing stuff.
In any case, I never heard of T Model TV...google doesn't have it so I don't know
what to say.
PS: Im 15, Im not a Phd in anything...yet that does not mean i have no voice about it.
Peace

OK, most people have said that the 'ghost' in the poem is a baby. At first glance it
looks like this because you soothe a baby's cries, and maybe 'wake it up'...but it's a
telephone. The ringing of the phone is the crying, and when you pick it up and talk
into it, it stops (which is what the poem describes). Also, once it's quiet, you would
wake it up by dialing (which is what 'tickling with a finger' is describing).

This poem is Craig Raines way of trying to show himself as above everyone else, he
believes he is the "Martian" and this is his way of mocking society. The "Martian" is
portrayed as looking at the world from above.
This man clearly thought that he was superior to others.
It is like he wrote this as a way to say- "ha look at me I am so superior you will never
be able to interpret my poem"
Raine shows the familiar in an unfamiliar way much like Bedtime story by George
Macbeth!

the part about the snoring could be a telephone as when you pick it up and dial a
number it makes a repeated sound like snoring

|
the first 6 lines are talking about butterflies... not books... (:

Caxtons~ books
Model T~ car
Time tied to the wrist~ watch and clock (both)
Punishment room~ bathroom
Colours die~ dreaming

Hey everyone who thinks that Model T is a Television, why don't you search it up on
the internet? It plainly shows that a model T is a car.

Model T is a car, the lock is in the inside (ignition), when you turn the key you free
the world as from inside the car it looks as if you have set the world in motion, the
film to watch anything missed is the rearview mirror.

I think that the "ghost" might be a baby. Babies can snore, When we pick them up, we
can soothe them by singing (or just talking), and we wake them up by tickling them
with a finger; i think this makes sense because the poem mentions the bodily functions
of a baby (only the young are allowed to suffer openly). However, I think this poem is
a brilliant piece of work because it allows for so much open interpretation, as well as
opinions

Model T can't be a recorder, remember or TV because the poem was written in 1979
and they didn't have VCRs or personal video cameras then. The a model T is a little
late for the poem it is the best way to explain a world in a box "With locks on the
inside."

In response to the recent posts concerning the debate over the correct interpretation of
the 8th stanza, the head of my English faculty seemed quite certain that "for
movement, so quick there is a film to watch for anything missed," refers to the rear
view and side view mirrors. My colleagues and I agreed as this interpretation seems to
make the most sense - especially as these objects are attached to, and inside of, the car
itself. Hope this helps to enhance your understanding of the poem.

.: Interpretation :.

Model t is a car. A ford car model. Not a television. there is no room inside a t.v. and
expecially no lock INSIDE.
in stanza eight it would be impossible for him to talk about speed cameras because of
the time it was written.

He is talking about a watch not a clock in stanza 9. when you tie a clock to your wrist
its a watch.
.: Martian sends a postcard :.

caxtons - books
Model T - television
sleeping apparatus - phone
punishment room - bathroom
Finishes poem with dreaming
I think this poem is a brilliant way of portraying the familiar in an unfamiliar way.
There is controversy over whether 'Model T' is a car or a television. I think it is a
television as you can have a video under a televison in which you can record anything
you have missedwatch it at a later date does anybody else agree?But i also understand
the MOdel T concept too. Argh! I am very confused :
No, I think stanza 8 is about speed cameras monitering cars - i.e. "anything missed" is
what the police etc don't see

.: 8th stanza :.

I'm thinking that for the stanza "for movement, so quick there is a film to watch for
anything missed," is referring to video cameras taping cars (racing?) and viewers can
see the replays "for anything missed." it's a long stretch but does anybody else agree?

.: Poem Analysis from Azzam :.

"A Martian Sends a Postcard Home" is a poem with seventeen stanzas. All of the
stanzas have two lines. At first the title of this poem was kind of tricky for me because
it made me think that it was about an actual Martian. It took me a while to figure out
that he was talking about things that happen in everyday life in earth. Basically
something a Martian would send home if he was on a vacation to earth is what the
poem focuses on.
Analysis
Raine uses several riddles in this poem to show what the Martian sees when he comes
to earth. He does a very good job in doing this. For example, the first stanza of the
poem is talking about a book. Caxton was the first English printer of books.
Mechanical birds with wings refers to the pages in a book. By saying they are
treasured for their markings means that if a person enjoys reading a book they will
treasure it. Raine also refers to a book in the next four lines.
Stanza six comes out straight forward and lets us realize that Raine is talking about
fog. It uses words such as clouds. By using context clues we understand the true
interpretation. When Raine says "rain is when the earth is television" he means that
the TV is snowy. This is a very good metaphor for rain because it does kind of make
the TV look like it is raining.
The seventh and eighth stanzas are talking about a car. This is simple as Raine refers
to "Model T." Raine gives good examples of the car in a Martian�s eyes. For
instance, "Model T is a room with the locks inside." I like this line a lot because I
have never seen a car in this way before. Raine says it is a room because you go inside
of the car and you are away from the outside world. You need a key to turn the car on
and off and to lock the car.
In this next stanza Raine did a great job of describing a watch or clock. "Ticking with
impatience" is right of the button. That is all a watch and clock do is tick for twenty
four hours a day.
Stanza ten, eleven, and twelve are on the subject of a telephone. All the phone is what
Raine writes in this poem. It does not do anything until you pick it up and that is what
Raine is saying. The cries of the ghost is when it rings. Then you "talk to it", or
answer it and when you are finished "put it back to sleep" or hang it up. Yes, we do
"deliberately wake it and tickle it with a finger" when we answer it or call someone
else.
A "punishment room with just water" is a bathroom. I just love these next three
stanzas because I love the bathroom. I just don�t think of it as a "punishment room."
When Raine writes "only the young are allowed to suffer openly" he is talking about a
baby getting their diapers changed in the open. Yet adults have to go to the bathroom
and suffer our pain alone. Raine had exceptional use of metaphors to describe the
bathroom.
The last two stanzas are about sleeping and dreaming. "When the colours die" is when
we go to bed. "Reading about ourselves with our eyelids shut" is basically saying we
are dreaming of ourselves. Raine put this at a good spot in the poem because the end
of the poem symbolizes the end of the day.

.: Poem Analysis from Azzam :.

"A Martian Sends a Postcard Home" is a poem with seventeen stanzas. All of the
stanzas have two lines. At first the title of this poem was kind of tricky for me because
it made me think that it was about an actual Martian. It took me a while to figure out
that he was talking about things that happen in everyday life in earth. Basically
something a Martian would send home if he was on a vacation to earth is what the
poem focuses on.
Analysis
Raine uses several riddles in this poem to show what the Martian sees when he comes
to earth. He does a very good job in doing this. For example, the first stanza of the
poem is talking about a book. Caxton was the first English printer of books.
Mechanical birds with wings refers to the pages in a book. By saying they are
treasured for their markings means that if a person enjoys reading a book they will
treasure it. Raine also refers to a book in the next four lines.
Stanza six comes out straight forward and lets us realize that Raine is talking about
fog. It uses words such as clouds. By using context clues we understand the true
interpretation. When Raine says "rain is when the earth is television" he means that
the TV is snowy. This is a very good metaphor for rain because it does kind of make
the TV look like it is raining.
The seventh and eighth stanzas are talking about a car. This is simple as Raine refers
to "Model T." Raine gives good examples of the car in a Martian�s eyes. For
instance, "Model T is a room with the locks inside." I like this line a lot because I
have never seen a car in this way before. Raine says it is a room because you go inside
of the car and you are away from the outside world. You need a key to turn the car on
and off and to lock the car.
In this next stanza Raine did a great job of describing a watch or clock. "Ticking with
impatience" is right of the button. That is all a watch and clock do is tick for twenty
four hours a day.
Stanza ten, eleven, and twelve are on the subject of a telephone. All the phone is what
Raine writes in this poem. It does not do anything until you pick it up and that is what
Raine is saying. The cries of the ghost is when it rings. Then you "talk to it", or
answer it and when you are finished "put it back to sleep" or hang it up. Yes, we do
"deliberately wake it and tickle it with a finger" when we answer it or call someone
else.
A "punishment room with just water" is a bathroom. I just love these next three
stanzas because I love the bathroom. I just don�t think of it as a "punishment room."
When Raine writes "only the young are allowed to suffer openly" he is talking about a
baby getting their diapers changed in the open. Yet adults have to go to the bathroom
and suffer our pain alone. Raine had exceptional use of metaphors to describe the
bathroom.
The last two stanzas are about sleeping and dreaming. "When the colours die" is when
we go to bed. "Reading about ourselves with our eyelids shut" is basically saying we
are dreaming of ourselves. Raine put this at a good spot in the poem because the end
of the poem symbolizes the end of the day.
.: Poem Analysis from Azzam :.

"A Martian Sends a Postcard Home" is a poem with seventeen stanzas. All of the
stanzas have two lines. At first the title of this poem was kind of tricky for me because
it made me think that it was about an actual Martian. It took me a while to figure out
that he was talking about things that happen in everyday life in earth. Basically
something a Martian would send home if he was on a vacation to earth is what the
poem focuses on.
Analysis
Raine uses several riddles in this poem to show what the Martian sees when he comes
to earth. He does a very good job in doing this. For example, the first stanza of the
poem is talking about a book. Caxton was the first English printer of books.
Mechanical birds with wings refers to the pages in a book. By saying they are
treasured for their markings means that if a person enjoys reading a book they will
treasure it. Raine also refers to a book in the next four lines.
Stanza six comes out straight forward and lets us realize that Raine is talking about
fog. It uses words such as clouds. By using context clues we understand the true
interpretation. When Raine says "rain is when the earth is television" he means that
the TV is snowy. This is a very good metaphor for rain because it does kind of make
the TV look like it is raining.
The seventh and eighth stanzas are talking about a car. This is simple as Raine refers
to "Model T." Raine gives good examples of the car in a Martian�s eyes. For
instance, "Model T is a room with the locks inside." I like this line a lot because I
have never seen a car in this way before. Raine says it is a room because you go inside
of the car and you are away from the outside world. You need a key to turn the car on
and off and to lock the car.
In this next stanza Raine did a great job of describing a watch or clock. "Ticking with
impatience" is right of the button. That is all a watch and clock do is tick for twenty
four hours a day.
Stanza ten, eleven, and twelve are on the subject of a telephone. All the phone is what
Raine writes in this poem. It does not do anything until you pick it up and that is what
Raine is saying. The cries of the ghost is when it rings. Then you "talk to it", or
answer it and when you are finished "put it back to sleep" or hang it up. Yes, we do
"deliberately wake it and tickle it with a finger" when we answer it or call someone
else.
A "punishment room with just water" is a bathroom. I just love these next three
stanzas because I love the bathroom. I just don�t think of it as a "punishment room."
When Raine writes "only the young are allowed to suffer openly" he is talking about a
baby getting their diapers changed in the open. Yet adults have to go to the bathroom
and suffer our pain alone. Raine had exceptional use of metaphors to describe the
bathroom.
The last two stanzas are about sleeping and dreaming. "When the colours die" is when
we go to bed. "Reading about ourselves with our eyelids shut" is basically saying we
are dreaming of ourselves. Raine put this at a good spot in the poem because the end
of the poem symbolizes the end of the day.
Perhaps the 'punishment room' is a closed off room where adults go to drink alcohol (i
the water, the different smells, and the children are not allowed to participate)
also maybe the last two lines are about sex (since it specifies 'in pairs').
.: martian sends... :.

caxtons - books. Model T - car. Apparatus - phone. Punishment room - bathroom.

Finishes with dreams. Taking the real and making it new with clarity and accuracy.
Realism, wonderfully condensed. Typical Raine. This poem has been extensively used
on school syllabuses - because it provides a puzzle to get the students thinking, yet
once the oblique objects are reworked it reveals an astounding simplicity. Raine's
position is always one of reduction, condensing meaning into a small shape of words
that heightens rather than dilutes its effecacy. This poem is one of his most famous,
and rightly so.