Here is my blackout poem on the Veldt. I did mine on paper. I found this poem on page 9 of the novel Red Rising

My poem named “Regret” explores theme 3 from Ray Bradbury’s The Veldt on Excessive consumption.

“I lived in peace but brought war”: Humans most of the time are happy the way they are but with advertisements being so darn effective it is hard to stop right? So they must buy all they can. In this sentence they brought war.

“Gold gnaws my heart”: They didn’t know that buying whatever they are buying would lead to so much pain and suffering all they care about is that they have to own it. All they see when buying is the “gold”.

“This is the noble lie that poisoned his eyes” and “It is not free”: This is regret and maybe them rethinking everything. They are “blind to underlying warnings related to our materialistic attitude” because no matter how much money it cost all they do is buy.

“Children do not know pain”: Adults have no self-control so why would children have it? It shows that children are getting dragged along with everyone else. This relates to The Veldt because the children killed their parents without a second thought and without any empathy. They do not know that that will harm them in the future because all they care about is the stuff that their parent’s bought for them.

“Thinks like me, subhuman, sharpened, strengthened, survive”: This shows that technology is getting better and better before our eyes. It’s subhuman, it has strengthened and it will survive. It will do all the things you ask and even know what you want or like.

Poetic devices- “Gold gnaws at my heart” and “This is the noble lie that poisoned his eyes” are both personifications because gold cannot gnaw at their heart and lies can’t poison something. The imagery created shows that this person is in so much pain, it literally gnaws their heart, poisoned his eyes, or stabbed their heart.” Thinks like me, subhuman, sharpened, strengthened, survive” is an alliteration because they begin with the same constant.

This poem “Regret” shows that owning more may not be the best. Sometimes things are best the way it is. Even if they have “gold” it might be the cause of their problems. What they bought may not make them any happier, but they might now realize the problem of consumption.

Thanks for reading!