The Secret of The Machines

"The Secret of the Machines" by Rudyard Kipling
The poem "The Secret of the Machines" by Rudyard Kipling,

a famous British poet, is about the great status of machines
in the age of the industrial progress. The poet qualifies
machines to define the situation from their point of view.
At the beginning they describe how they were built and
what their abilities are. After the illustration of the
improvement in human relations over large distances
assisted by machines for telecommunication, they mention
the mobilisation which makes bridging these distances
possible.
Besides the machines point out how able they are to
transform nature.
In the last but one verse it is described which differences
there are between humans and machines and which status
they have in the world: they are more important and
stronger than every human being, but they are no gods.
The poem finishes with a reminder that machines are
transitory and after all created by humans.
At the beginning of the poem the rhythm is very regular and
strong because of the cross rhyme and the metrical foot
which illustrate the regular and monotonous work of the
machines very onomatopoetically. This impression is
underlined by the similar structure of the sentences, too.
When the machines describe the things they make possible
the rhythm does not sound so disjointed any more but still
very dynamic. At the end when there is a new aspect in the
poem the rhythm changes again and becomes softer and
more harmonic.
These formal observations reflect the content of the poem:
Kipling describes the advantages of the industrial society at
the beginning of the 20th century, before turning to the
disadvantages. Due to his direct appeal to the reader it
seems very lively when he describes how it is possible to
communicate with a friend who lives very far away and
needs help.
The next stanza is about the Mauretania, a big ocean liner

which had its maiden voyage in 1907. During all these
descriptions (for example: "and the monstrous nine-decked
city goes to sea") you get the impression that the writer is
very impressed by all those inventions and improvements
and that he is proud of living in an age of such a change in
which it is even possible to transform nature assisted by
machines.
But he also makes clear that machines are no human
beings, because they have no soul ("We can neither love
nor pity nor forgive"). Though the machines say that they
are "greater than the peoples or the kings", Kipling
underlines that they are not the Gods as many people
thought in that time. In the last stanza the poet conveys to
us that machines are transitory and that you should not
forget that they are not individuals but human creations.
I like this poem, because it describes many aspects of the
theme though it is not easy to understand that the new
inventions of the industrial revolution were such a big
change for the people of its time. But in my opinion Rudyard
Kipling makes clear very well how fascinated he is by those
developments. Maybe in this way he could have convinced
the sceptical people who were afraid of the revolution. So
he shows an optimistic view of the world, which is very
helpful in every age. (I.Z., 11b, March 2005)
The poem by Rudyard Kipling still has a current
importance
"The secret of the machines" was written by Rudyard
Kipling at the beginning of the twentieth century. The poem
is about the importance of machines in our lives. The author
starts by describing how machines are created and wrought
and says that they were taken from the ore-bed. They only
need some water, coal and oil. Then R. Kipling enumerates
the skills of machines, such as pulling, racing, flying or
writing. In the third stanza he explains the ability of
machines to transmit information across the world. This is
followed by a depiction how brilliant ships can be. The fifth
and sixth stanza tell us that machines can nearly do
everything on earth if they get the exact instructions. Then

the author makes clear that machines have no feelings and
that the wrong handling of machines can be dangerous. At
last he says that for all their power machines are only
things which are invented by humans.
The first intention of Rudyard Kipling is to show the
manifoldness of machines. He wants to clarify that the
progress of machines is a good thing for the human kind.
They make many things easier and facilitate the work of the
humans, particularly during the time of industrialization, in
which R. Kipling lived. The second intention is to express
that a machine can never replace a human, because a
machine cannot feel anything (lines 37 to 39). Besides he
says that machines are only children of humans brain (line
48) and through that he shows that humans control them.
Machines are always dependent on humans. By choosing
the headline "The secret of the machines" the author also
wants to clarify that machines also have secrets, maybe
weaknesses, that they, as mentioned before, cannot feel
anything and that they are dependent on humans. At the
time of industrialization surely many people said that
machines were everything. So Rudyard Kipling wanted to
explain to such people that machines possess some, maybe
many advantages, but they cannot do everything and least
of all they cannot compensate nature. This you can gather
from the last stanza.
In my opinion the poem is very interesting, because it
constitutes all the advantages of machines and coevally it
makes clear that humans stand above the machines. As we
have seen in the development of the world there are many
problems due to technical progress. For example, isolation
is one of those problems. People have no friends and sit at
the computer the whole day. Another problem is the danger
of machines. In history there were some disasters, for
example in 1986 in Tschernobyl, where many people died
because of radioactivity. R. Kipling describes this danger in
his poem, when he says in line 40 "if you make a slip in
handling us you die". I have come to the conclusion that the
poem by Rudyard Kipling still has a current importance

today and that for all advantages there are also
disadvantages when using machines. (D.W., 11b, March
2005)

The Secret of The Machines

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Secret of The Machines

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

"The Secret of the Machines" by Rudyard Kipling

The poem "The Secret of the Machines" by Rudyard Kipling,

The next stanza is about the Mauretania, a big ocean liner

everything on earth if they get the exact instructions. Then

poem by Rudyard Kipling still has a current importance

You might also like