"A Martian Sends A Postcard Home" by Craig Raine

In "A Martian Sends a Postcard Home," Craig Raine uses many metaphors to describe what a Martian would see if he came to earth. In the first stanza Raine uses metaphors to describe what a Martian may think a book looks like. Raine makes reference to William Caxton, who was the first to print books in England, in the first stanza; "Caxtons are mechanical birds with many wings / and some are treasured for their markings. …

…because it requires the reader to use their imagination, the reader must think in order to figure out these everyday things the Martian is seeing for the first time, it's somewhat of a brainteaser. It's obvious that the Martian is seeing these things for the first time, it makes the reader wonder why a simple thing such as a watch or a clock is not found on his planet, is time insignificant were he's from?