Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"Backdrop Addresses Cowboy" by Margaret Atwood presents a critical and incisive examination of the myth of the American West, as embodied by the figure of the cowboy. Through vivid imagery and a tone that oscillates between irony and condemnation, Atwood deconstructs the glorified narratives that have long surrounded this iconic symbol, revealing the underlying violence and exploitation inherent in the conquest and colonization of the West. The poem not only critiques the romanticization of the cowboy but also explores themes of identity, environmental degradation, and the impact of myth on reality.

The poem opens with a portrayal of the cowboy as a caricature, "Starspangled cowboy / sauntering out of the almost- / silly West," immediately setting a tone of skepticism towards the traditional, romanticized image of the cowboy. This figure, with his "porcelain grin" and "papier-mâché cactus," is depicted as both a product of and a participant in a fabricated narrative, a symbol of American exceptionalism and manifest destiny that has been sanitized and stripped of its brutal reality. The cowboy is "innocent as a bathtub / full of bullets," a line that juxtaposes innocence with violence, suggesting the cowboy's obliviousness to the destruction he embodies and perpetuates.

As the cowboy moves through the landscape, "the air in front of you / blossoms with targets," Atwood uses this imagery to critique the violence that underpins the myth of the West, where progress is marked by conquest and subjugation. The "heroic / trail of desolation" left in the cowboy's wake, filled with "beer bottles / slaughtered by the side / of the road, bird- / skulls bleaching in the sunset," speaks to the environmental and cultural devastation caused by this expansion. These lines evoke a sense of the reckless, heedless progress that characterizes the cowboy's journey, a progress that comes at the cost of the natural world and its inhabitants.

The speaker of the poem, who might represent nature, indigenous peoples, or perhaps a modern observer disillusioned by the myth, reflects on their own position relative to the cowboy. They are "the horizon / you ride towards, the thing you can never lasso," suggesting an elusive truth or reality that the cowboy, ensnared in his own myth, can never truly grasp or conquer. This horizon is also "what surrounds you," indicating that the cowboy is inescapably embedded within a broader context of exploitation and violence, symbolized by the "tincans, bones, empty shells, / the litter of your invasions."

Atwood's use of the first-person perspective in the latter part of the poem personalizes the critique, making the confrontation between the cowboy and the speaker a direct and intimate one. The speaker identifies themselves as "the space you desecrate / as you pass through," highlighting the destructive impact of the cowboy's actions on the environment and on those who inhabit it. This confrontation challenges the reader to consider the legacy of the cowboy not as a simple hero of frontier tales but as a complex figure whose mythology has real-world consequences.

In conclusion, "Backdrop Addresses Cowboy" offers a powerful critique of the mythologized American West and its emblematic cowboy. Margaret Atwood uses this poem to challenge the narratives of heroism and exploration that have often been used to justify violence and oppression. By presenting the cowboy through a lens of irony and critique, Atwood invites a reevaluation of the myths that shape our understanding of history and identity. The poem serves as a reminder of the importance of confronting and understanding the darker aspects of these myths, recognizing the impact they have had on the landscape and peoples they have touched.

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