They Will Be Alone
Written: January 13th, 2015.
Poem: Lavinia Greenlaw's "A World Where News Traveled Slowly" - accessible here.
Nature has brought with it consequences that threaten to envelope the human heart. In her poem, "A World Where News Traveled Slowly", Lavinia Greenlaw distinguishes three stages in the history of communicating information. First, speaking face to face. Second, circulating information via towers strung along a mountain range (i.e., semaphore). Third, corresponding instantly through technology. From these epochs in information-sharing's history, Greenlaw argues that instant communication promises to bring the world to ruins, indicated by the tone and purpose of the work.
Though the tone of the poem of one of general approval towards earlier types of communication, it becomes one of cynicism towards later types. For in these more current forms, one cannot have hope. For example, the speaker begins by describing the slow-going process of passing along information, a process that could take from "Monday to Thursday" (Greenlaw 1). Due to this long delay between hearing of an event and the occurrence of that event, hope was allowed life. For even when one heard the news of some terrible situation, "the heart could wait" (9), faithful that things might have changed for the better by the present moment. At least, on is allowed this option. Further, this allowance for faith and hope is continued in the second stanza, where semaphore communication is considered. But here, hope is not due to time-delay, but to "all the variables" (15) in the process. For instance, "light" (16) or "weather"(16) might distort the message. There is always the chance that dreadful news is miscommunicated. In short, hope is still allowed to live in the human heart. Finally, in the age of instant communication, hope is dead. The abrupt shift in tone is notable. Words are described as "harder" (18) than they once were, "[c]oded and squeezed" (20) together, as if they might suffocate. This feeling of suffocation grows as "[n]ets tighten" around the world, culminating in the realization that New York and London might "burn to the ground" (25) as a result of their instant contact. The point is, when two ends of the world can connect within seconds, information-overload is bound to occur. It is this overload that destroys hope. And with the death of hope comes the destruction of the whole world. For if their is nothing to hope for, there is nothing to work for, and if there is nothing to work for, everything falls apart.
Tone reveals why hope is not possible in the information age, while purposes pushes this analysis a notch further by presenting other deleterious consequences of instantaneity. First, current methods of communication cause people to "talk...in[to] one another's arms" (19). Today, so much of communication is through typing or texting that one may as well be speaking into another's arm. True physical contact has all but faded away, and without the all-too necessary touch of another human, people will individually and collectively waste away. Second, today there is no "chance [of one's] voice...reach[ing another's] voice unaltered and then...leav[ing] no trace" (20-21) behind it. In other words, there is no way a 'right to be forgotten' may be enforced in the age of instant, electronic communication. What one says and does will remain to be seen forever. Third, correspondence through technology does not give the heart time to "wait" (9). This is the primary message of the poem: the human heart was once allowed time to way, to process information and come to terms with it. But now, in an age "[w]hen London [makes] contact with New York" (23) instantaneously, the heart is "squeezed" in on all sides, "[n]ets tighten[ing]" (22) around it. There is no time to take it in and to process, before another event happens and demands immediate attention. But soon enough, the human soul will burn, as it is not made to bear the weight for the world on its shoulders. As a result of these three reasons, instantaneity will be the undoing of humanity.
In summary, the purpose and overall tone of the poem suggests that instant communication promises destruction. It will be a lonely destruction if the trend of less and physical interaction continues. The end will come to the isolated human who knows not the sound of another's voice, but only marks on a screen. They will be alone when they meet their fate, and perhaps that thought is terrifying enough to shake us out of our apathy and push us to reconnect physically, meaningfully, and truly with the people we claim to love.
Poem: Lavinia Greenlaw's "A World Where News Traveled Slowly" - accessible here.
Nature has brought with it consequences that threaten to envelope the human heart. In her poem, "A World Where News Traveled Slowly", Lavinia Greenlaw distinguishes three stages in the history of communicating information. First, speaking face to face. Second, circulating information via towers strung along a mountain range (i.e., semaphore). Third, corresponding instantly through technology. From these epochs in information-sharing's history, Greenlaw argues that instant communication promises to bring the world to ruins, indicated by the tone and purpose of the work.
Though the tone of the poem of one of general approval towards earlier types of communication, it becomes one of cynicism towards later types. For in these more current forms, one cannot have hope. For example, the speaker begins by describing the slow-going process of passing along information, a process that could take from "Monday to Thursday" (Greenlaw 1). Due to this long delay between hearing of an event and the occurrence of that event, hope was allowed life. For even when one heard the news of some terrible situation, "the heart could wait" (9), faithful that things might have changed for the better by the present moment. At least, on is allowed this option. Further, this allowance for faith and hope is continued in the second stanza, where semaphore communication is considered. But here, hope is not due to time-delay, but to "all the variables" (15) in the process. For instance, "light" (16) or "weather"(16) might distort the message. There is always the chance that dreadful news is miscommunicated. In short, hope is still allowed to live in the human heart. Finally, in the age of instant communication, hope is dead. The abrupt shift in tone is notable. Words are described as "harder" (18) than they once were, "[c]oded and squeezed" (20) together, as if they might suffocate. This feeling of suffocation grows as "[n]ets tighten" around the world, culminating in the realization that New York and London might "burn to the ground" (25) as a result of their instant contact. The point is, when two ends of the world can connect within seconds, information-overload is bound to occur. It is this overload that destroys hope. And with the death of hope comes the destruction of the whole world. For if their is nothing to hope for, there is nothing to work for, and if there is nothing to work for, everything falls apart.
Tone reveals why hope is not possible in the information age, while purposes pushes this analysis a notch further by presenting other deleterious consequences of instantaneity. First, current methods of communication cause people to "talk...in[to] one another's arms" (19). Today, so much of communication is through typing or texting that one may as well be speaking into another's arm. True physical contact has all but faded away, and without the all-too necessary touch of another human, people will individually and collectively waste away. Second, today there is no "chance [of one's] voice...reach[ing another's] voice unaltered and then...leav[ing] no trace" (20-21) behind it. In other words, there is no way a 'right to be forgotten' may be enforced in the age of instant, electronic communication. What one says and does will remain to be seen forever. Third, correspondence through technology does not give the heart time to "wait" (9). This is the primary message of the poem: the human heart was once allowed time to way, to process information and come to terms with it. But now, in an age "[w]hen London [makes] contact with New York" (23) instantaneously, the heart is "squeezed" in on all sides, "[n]ets tighten[ing]" (22) around it. There is no time to take it in and to process, before another event happens and demands immediate attention. But soon enough, the human soul will burn, as it is not made to bear the weight for the world on its shoulders. As a result of these three reasons, instantaneity will be the undoing of humanity.
In summary, the purpose and overall tone of the poem suggests that instant communication promises destruction. It will be a lonely destruction if the trend of less and physical interaction continues. The end will come to the isolated human who knows not the sound of another's voice, but only marks on a screen. They will be alone when they meet their fate, and perhaps that thought is terrifying enough to shake us out of our apathy and push us to reconnect physically, meaningfully, and truly with the people we claim to love.
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