The Secret of the Machines
(MODERN MACHINERY)
We were taken from the ore-bed and the mine,
We were melted in the furnace and the pit—
We were cast and wrought and hammered to design,
We were cut and filed and tooled and gauged to fit.
Some water, coal, and oil is all we ask,
And a thousandth of an inch to give us play:
And now, if you will set us to our task,
We will serve you four and twenty hours a day!We can pull and haul and push and lift and drive,
We can print and plough and weave and heat and light,
We can run and race and swim and fly and dive,
We can see and hear and count and read and write!Would you call a friend from half across the world?
If you’ll let us have his name and town and state,
You shall see and hear your crackling question hurled
Across the arch of heaven while you wait.
Has he answered? Does he need you at his side?
You can start this very evening if you choose,
And take the Western Ocean in the stride
Of seventy thousand horses and some screws!The boat-express is waiting your command!
You will find the Mauretania at the quay,
Till her captain turns the lever ‘neath his hand,
And the monstrous nine-decked city goes to sea.Do you wish to make the mountains bare their head
And lay their new-cut forests at your feet?
Do you want to turn a river in its bed,
Or plant a barren wilderness with wheat?
Shall we pipe aloft and bring you water down
From the never-failing cisterns of the snows,
To work the mills and tramways in your town,
And irrigate your orchards as it flows?It is easy! Give us dynamite and drills!
Watch the iron-shouldered rocks lie down and quake
As the thirsty desert-level floods and fills,
And the valley we have dammed becomes a lake.But remember, please, the Law by which we live,
We are not built to comprehend a lie,
We can neither love nor pity nor forgive.
If you make a slip in handling us you die!
We are greater than the Peoples or the Kings—
Be humble, as you crawl beneath our rods!-
Our touch can alter all created things,
We are everything on earth—except The Gods!Though our smoke may hide the Heavens from your eyes,
It will vanish and the stars will shine again,
Because, for all our power and weight and size,
We are nothing more than children of your brain!
Summary of The Secret of the Machines
- Popularity of “The Secret of the Machines”: Rudyard Kipling, a great American writer, and poet wrote this poem after the Industrial Revolution in the United Kingdom in 1911. “The Secret of the Machines” highlights various functions of manmade machines and the ease and convenience they have brought to our lives. It also highlights that this marvelous creation is devoid of emotions. If a person handles machines carelessly, the results could be catastrophic. There’s a stark comparison made by the speaker between machines and humans beings.
- “The Secret of the Machines” As a Representative of Modernism: This beautiful poem presents various benefits of modern technology as well as its drawbacks. The poem begins with machines speaking to humans about their creation as they prove that they are the mouthpiece of man’s creative and brilliant mind. The speaker details how the raw material is melted and shaped into various useful machines. These machines use coal, water, and oil and are ready to help us twenty-four hours a day. Moreover, they can perform all the tasks humans can perform. The speaker gives a vivid description of the fields in which machines have assisted us positively.
For instance, they have brought revolutionary changes in the communication sector. Also, they help humans to shape the landscape the way they want it to be. Thus, the speaker seems touched by the miraculous tasks performed by the machines. However, the ideal situation suddenly fades away in the final lines, where the speaker admits that this enormous and wonderful machinery is the creation of a human’s brain, and nothing is greater than the creation of God. - Major Themes in “The Secret of the Machines”: The significance of modern machinery, man versus the modern world, and admiration of man’s achievements are the major themes of the poem. The speaker artistically sketches the modern world in this poem to show how machines have become inevitable in almost all spheres of life. Our dependence on them has dramatically increased to the extent, where we feel vulnerable without them, which makes humanity weak. Machines indeed increase our comfort level but we must think rationally about them. If they are not used appropriately, they can bring disaster to us.
Analysis of Literary Devices Used in “The Secret of the Machines”
literary devices are modes that represent the writer’s ideas, feelings, and emotions and make their words appealing to the readers. Rudyard Kipling has used some literary devices in this poem to make it appealing. The analysis of some of the literary devices used in this poem has been listed below.
- Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line such as the sound of /i/ in “It will vanish and the stars will shine again” and the sound of /ou/ in “Because, for all our power and weight and size”.
- Anaphora: It refers to the repetition of a word or expression in the first part of some verses. For example, the words “We can” in the second stanza are repeated to emphasize the point.
“We can pull and haul and push and lift and drive,
We can print and plough and weave and heat and light,
We can run and race and swim and fly and dive.”
- Enjambment: It is defined as a thought in verse that does not come to an end at a line break; rather, it rolls over to the next line. For example,
“You shall see and hear your crackling question hurled
Across the arch of heaven while you wait.”
- Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. For example, “We can pull and haul and push and lift and drive”, “We were cut and filed and tooled and gauged to fit” and “As the thirsty desert-level floods and fills.”
- Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between the objects that are different in nature. The poet compares machines with humans throughout the poem.
- Rhetorical Question: Rhetorical question is a question that is not asked to receive an answer; it is just posed to make the point clear. For example, “And irrigate your orchards as it flows?” and “And lay their new-cut forests at your feet?”
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in “The Secret of the Machines”
Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is the analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.
- Free Verse: Free verse is a type of poetry that does not contain patterns of rhyme or meter. This is a free-verse poem with no strict rhyme or meter.
- Quatrain: A quatrain is a four-lined stanza borrowed from Persian poetry. Here second, fourth, sixth, and eighth stanzas are quatrains.
- Octave: An eight-lined stanza is known as an octave. Every odd-numbered stanza is an octave.
- Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. There are eight stanzas in this poem with each comprising a different number of verses. Every odd-numbered stanza is an octave and an even-numbered stanza is a quatrain.
Quotes to be Used
The lines stated below are appropriate to admire mankind; why God has created us as superior.
“We are greater than the Peoples or the Kings—
Be humble, as you crawl beneath our rods!-
Our touch can alter all created things,
We are everything on earth—except The Gods.”