Time Capsule Found on

the Dead Planet

Margaret Atwood
Time Capsule Found on the Dead Planet
Stanzas 1 – 2

1. Think & Share – Who is the speaker?

2. Write – Why did the poet include the words “a million birds” and “a
million fish”?
3. Write – According to the poem, what did the people of the first age
consider holy?
Stanza 3

1. Write: According to the poem, how do people feel about money?

2. Turn & Talk: What does the author mean by saying that people with
money “would be able to fly”?
Stanza 4

1. Find Evidence: Underline three sentences that illustrate that

money was “out o control” in the third age.
2. Write: What does the speaker mean when they personify money
and say that “it ate whole forests, croplands and the lives of
children”?
Stanza 5

1. Find Evidence: Underline five phrases that reveal how the fourth
age altered the earth.
2. Think & Share: According to the poem, what caused these
alterations to the earth?
Stanzas 7 – 8

1. Turn & Talk: Who is the speaker talking to?

2. Write: The speaker writes “on the last of all our recorded days.”
What does this suggest about what happened to humans in the fifth
age?
Stanzas 1 – 2

1. Consider the following line: “We knew we were not orphans.” What
does this line suggest about the relationship between humans and
the Earth in the first age?
Stanzas 1 – 3

1. How did people’s values change from the first age to the second
age?
Stanza 4

1. The speaker says “It created feasts and famines, songs of joy,
lamentations.” What does this juxtaposition suggest about money?
Stanza 4

1. The speaker says money “created greed and hunger, which were its
two faces.” What does this line suggest about the effect of mone on
people in the third age?
Discussion questions

1. Consider the poem and examples from real life: Do you believe that
money makes people compromise their values or helps them
accomplish their goals? Explain your answer.
2. One of the conventions of science fiction is fictional or future
worlds. Would you consider the world that the poet is describing to
be entirely fictional or an accurate prediction of the future? Explain
your answer.
3. In “Time capsule found on the dead planet”, Margaret Atwood
reveals her views on the cost of progress. Do you agree with her?