A mother goes to the local market or superstore to get a few things for dinner and to possibly get a little something for entertainment afterward, but while browsing the shelves of movies and books she sees two items that seem polar opposite and a question arises in her mind. No doubt, no doubt, that we have all been in a similar situation skimming through the shelves of a library, looking at the discount movies at Walmart, or the like and found two items that either seemed identical and weren’t like the first of a movie series and the sequel that turned out to be a remake. Or two polar opposite titles stacked atop one another that made us all take a brief moment and ponder how they ended up there, but what if we took more than a moment to ponder. This last year I looked and found two such things, poems to be exact, that seemed to be the most platonically, if at all, related pieces bound together in the same book which started me back here again with the question of “was it on purpose?” The two poems “All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace,” by Richard Brautigan and “American Hero,” by Essex Hemphill are both in a english study book and are worth pondering in further detail, and since we are questioning if by accident or by choice it maybe best to consider their similarities in metaphors, and how both are in free verse, against their differences like their tone, or the amount of imagery used.

The first similarity of these two poems would be that both use metaphors. Richard Brautigan and Essex Hemphill both have a good number of metaphors in their poems. In “American Hero,” for example “It’s a shimmering club light,” (5). Here Essex is talking about how the lights in the gymnasium make him feel and relates them to a club light even though it isn’t really a club light it’s what it reminds him of. Then in Brautigan’s poem “a cybernetic meadow where mammals and computers” (3-4) is just one of the many metaphors he uses. Here Brautigan isn’t actually talking about somewhere he’s been or somewhere he’s heard of but somewhere he’s imagined. As stated above Richard Brautigan and Essex Hemphill made their poems similar by both using metaphors.

Another similarity is free verse. Free verse means chaotic line length and no rhythm between the lines.In Essex’s poem for example “I never hear the ball slap the backboard. I slam it” (10-11). Here as you can see there is no repeating pattern and there is any rhyme either. Now from the first two lines of Brautigan’s poem it is evident as well, “I like to think (and the sooner the better!)” (1-2). Again there aren’t any rhymes nor any order in the line alignment. Thus one more way these two poems are similar is by the fact both of them are written in free verse.

Of the many differences these two poems have the tone between them is quite possibly the most obvious. In the poem “All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace,” the tone is far more light hearted and whimsical whereas the poem “American Hero,” is more intense and down-to-earth. Proof of this from Brautigan’s poem “Where deer stroll peacefully” (13). This is a simply peaceful image not something that could be stressed in a high tension situation. In Hemphill’s poem the tone is more along the lines of “Everyone hollering” (16). Clearly Hemphill poem isn’t an easy-going, peaceable tone. So as you can see these two poets prefer to write using almost opposite tones.

A final contrasting attribute between the poems “American Hero,” and “All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace,” is the simple concept that one has far more imagery than the other. Richard Brautigan’s poem is packed with sensual imagery. Most of Essex’s poem is written in a high speed action like “Shoot for the net. Choke it.” for example (9). Hemphill is more dedicated to the notion that he is here to entertain by providing action scenes rather than images. Brautigan on the other hand filled his poem with “Programming harmony like pure water touching clear sky.” (7-8).So here we see that the major difference is what mattered or what the poets prefered in their poems: action or imagery. This gave these two poets quite a contrasting resume.

In conclusion the two poems “American Hero” by Essex Hemphill and “All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace,” are fairly balanced in their similarities and differences. They are both written in free verse. They both have a lot of metaphors. One is full of odd whimsical imagery that the other makes up for in action. The tones of these are quite opposite. So no matter how opposite or similar two poems may be, if you take a deeper look you might just be surprised to find the unique similarities or the tiny differences that may make two poems fit on the same shelf, so next time you see two quizzical titles on a shelf don’t ignore them, give the question space to amaze you.


Works Cited List
Brautigan, Richard. ""All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace"" Elements of Literature: Third Course. By Robert Anderson. Austin, TX: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1989. N. pag. Print.
Hemphill, Essex. ""American Hero"" Elements of Literature: Third Course. By Robert Anderson. Austin, TX: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1989. N. pag. Print.