(TBASF) Lesson Topic 5: The Green Hills of Earth

Lesson Topic 5: The Green Hills of Earth

Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers," he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre of his time. He was one of the first science fiction writers to break into mainstream magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post in the late 1940s. He was one of the best-selling science fiction novelists for many decades. He, Isaac Asimov, and Arthur C. Clarke are known as the "Big Three" of science fiction.

Heinlein wrote the following poem based on his short story with the same title.

The Green Hills of Earth

Let the sweet fresh breezes heal me

As they rove around the girth

Of our lovely mother planet

Of the cool, green hills of Earth.

 

We rot in the moulds of Venus,

We retch at her tainted breath.

Foul are her flooded jungles,

Crawling with unclean death.

 

[ --- the harsh bright soil of Luna ---

--- Saturn's rainbow rings ---

--- the frozen night of Titan --- ]

 

We've tried each spinning space mote

And reckoned its true worth:

Take us back again to the homes of men

On the cool, green hills of Earth.

 

The arching sky is calling

Spacemen back to their trade.

ALL HANDS! STAND BY!

FREE FALLING! And the lights below us fade.

 

Out ride the sons of Terra,

Far drives the thundering jet,

Up leaps a race of Earthmen,

Out, far, and onward yet ---

 

We pray for one last landing

On the globe that gave us birth;

Let us rest our eyes on the friendly skies

And the cool, green hills of Earth. 

 

What is the rhyme scheme of the poem? Can you find examples of repetition? What do you think about alliteration? What do you think is the overall tone of the poem?