McConnell 1

Maggie McConnell
Ms. Dockus
1st Hour American Literature
6 December 2015
Response to Thought and Space by Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury is best known for his exploration of human flaws through satirical stories.
His poem, Thoughts and Space, may come as a surprise, then, to readers who are familiar with
his other work. Through the course of his poem, it seems, Bradbury has discovered some kind of
hope. At first, he describes how the cold expanses of the Universe are far beyond the reach and
ability of man. This is evident from his definition of spaces boundaries as, time and time alone
(2). However, he then goes on to discover, One weapon [he has]/ stronger yet! (17-18). He is
referring to the free will of the human mind and spirit. Bradbury attributes the human races only
weapon against the unknown confines of space to its own thought and discovery.
In addition to Bradburys straying from his customary subject, I also found interesting the
emphasis he put on the power of human ideas. He expresses this with his words, Unleashed,
without a body's slacking hold, thought leaves the ancient Earth behind to mold (37-40). Our
thoughts and discoveries are the only thing that discern us from struggling bipeds on a cloudwrapped Earth, chained solid on a war-swept, waning globe (11-14). Coming from a man who
typically chronicles the pitfalls of man, this expression is relatively hopeful.
Our discoveries, while evaluating the physical world, lead us to ideas that transcend it.
Our primitive instinct to concern ourselves with our material presence on Earth merely shadows
the power of our more profound thoughts. Thought and Space assures its readers that their
thoughts give them a tool powerful enough to combat the unknowns of the human condition.

McConnell 2
Because ideas surpass the physical world, they share only the boundaries of the universe: time
and time alone (2).