Discovery Of the New World
By Carter Revard
The creatures that we met this morning
marvelled at our green skins
and scarlet eyes.
They lack antennae
and can’t be made to grasp
your proclamation that they are
our lawful food and prey and slaves,
nor can they seem to learn
their body-space is needed to materialize
our oxygen absorbers –
which they conceive are breathing
and thinking creatures whom they implore
at first as angels or (later) as devils
when they are being snuffed out
by an absorber swelling
into their space.
Their history bled from one this morning
while we were tasting his brain
in holographic rainbows
which we assembled into quite an interesting
set of legends –
that’s all it came to, though
the colors were quite lovely before we
poured them into our time;
the blue shift bleached away
meaningless circumstance and they would not fit
any of our truth-matrices –
there was, however,
a curious visual echo in their history
of our own coming to their earth;
a certain General Sherman
had said concerning a group of them
exactly what we were saying to youabout these creatures:
it is our destiny to asterize this planet,
and they will not be asterized,
so they must be wiped out.
We need their space and oxygen
which they do not know how to use,
yet they will not give up their gas unforced,
and we feel sure,
whatever our “agreements” made this morning,
we’ll have to kill them all:
the more we cook this orbit,
the fewer next time around.
We’ve finished burning all their crops
and killed their cattle.
They’ll have to come into our pens
and then we’ll get to study
the way our heart attacks and cancers spread among them,
since they seem not immune to these.
If we didn’t have this mission it might be sad
to see such helpless creatures die,
but never fear,
the riches of this place are ours
and worth whatever pain others may have to feel.
We’ll soon have it cleared
as in fact it is already, at the poles.
Then we will be safe, and rich, and happy here forever.
Summary of Discovery of the New World
- Popularity of “Discovery of the New World”: The poem ‘Discovery of the New World’ was written by Carter Curtis Revard, an American scholar, poet, and writer. The poem is futuristic and was published in 1980 in Revard’s book, Ponca War Dances. The poem expresses the poet’s opinion regarding American colonialism through alien creatures, using a third-person point of view to show how the barbaric activities of one nation seem benign to itself. The popularity of the poem lies in using alien creatures to highlight the barbarism of colonial thinking and the supposedly benign American invasion of the Native American lands.
- “Discovery of the New World” As a Representative of Alien Colonialism and its Aftermaths: The poem suggests an alien creature making the presentation of its visit to the earth and reporting it back to its superior to show how this study is going to contribute to the alien colonialism of the land. In the first person, the anonymous creature states that human beings are rather wonderstruck at their appearance and that they are dumb and ignorant of the real intentions of the creatures that they would have their oxygen and food. These human beings are just terming aliens as devils or angels and are unaware of their reality. The creature further reports their brain testing activities and the response of the human beings to highlight that their malign activities are abracadabra for human beings and that they are also unable to follow their truth which is different. The aliens think that it is their right to satirize their ways of living and wipe them out as it is their right to use “space and oxygen.” Later, the creature reveals the full plan of exterminating humans by studying them and using the same to spread their own diseases among them to which they are not immune. In the end, it asserts that their place and wealth will be the properties of the aliens, and they would be prosperous after that.
- Major Themes in “Discovery of the New World”: Mockery of colonialism, benign slogans of occupations of the land of the Native Americans, and the supposition of the superiority of one’s civilization are three major themes of this poem. Although the poet shows aliens instead of the white people discussing the future of the human race, he really means the white people who have adopted the same course of action to colonize people and kill them in the name of the spread of civilization. The poet, a Native American, has presented aliens as the white people who have mocked the possession of the Native Americans, have raised benign slogans to civilize them, and then occupied their lands, making them pariahs in their own lands.
Analysis of Literary Devices Used in Discovery of the New World
literary devices are essential for poetic writing. The analysis of these devices in the poem “Discovery of the New World” as given below shows this fact.
- Allusion: An allusion is a reference to some historical idea, place, event, or thing such as the poet has alluded to General Sherman.
- Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line such as the sound of /a/ in “They lack antennae”, the sound of /i/ in “Their history bled from one this morning” and the sound of /ee/ in “about these creatures”.
- Alliteration: It is the use of successive consonant sounds in the initials of the successive words such as /th/ in “that they”, the sound of /w/ in “while we were”, “what we were” and the sound of /s/ in “see such.”
- Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line such as the sound of /m/ and /r/ in “The creatures that we met this morning”, /l/ and /s/ in “at first as angels or (later) as devils,” and the sound of /t/ and /th/ in “that’s all it came to, though.”
- 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;
but never fear,
the riches of this place are ours
and worth whatever pain others may have to feel.
We’ll soon have it cleared
as in fact it is already, at the poles.
- Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. The poem shows the use of imagery such as “marveled at our green skins / and scarlet eyes”, “our oxygen absorbers” and “Their history bled from one this morning.”
- Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between the objects that are different. The poem shows the use of aliens as a metaphor for the colonial forces.
- Parallelism: The poem shows the use of parallelism at certain places in its verses such as;
the more we cook this orbit,
the fewer next time around.
- Personification: The poet has shown the use of the heart as if it has its own life and emotion. This means it is a personification.
- Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from literal meanings. The poem shows the use of the symbols of colors, sounds, food, prey, and slaves to show the impacts of colonialism.
- Simile: The poem shows the use of similes such as the aliens saying that human beings compare them with angels or devils such as; and thinking creatures whom they implore / at first as angels or (later) as devils.”
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in Discovery of the New World
Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is an analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.
- Diction and Tone: The poem shows the use of common poetic diction with a serious as well as mocking tone.
- Free Verse: The poem does not follow any rhyme scheme. Therefore, it is a free-verse poem.
- Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. The entire poem is a single stanza.
Quotes to be Used
These lines from ‘Discovery of the New World’ are relevant to use when teaching about American colonialism and para-colonialism.
To but never fear,
the riches of this place are ours
and worth whatever pain others may have to feel.
We’ll soon have it cleared
as in fact it is already, at the poles.
Then we will be safe, and rich, and happy here forever.