"A Martian Sends A Postcard Home" by Craig Raine

In "A Martian Sends a Postcard Home," Craig Raine uses many metaphors to describe what a Martian would see if he came to earth. In the first stanza Raine uses metaphors to describe what a Martian may think a book looks like. Raine makes reference to William Caxton, who was the first to print books in England, in the first stanza; "Caxtons are mechanical birds with many wings / and some are treasured for their markings. A book would resemble a bird when opened, the wings being the many pages, and many books have marked a spot in history or is cherished by the person reading it. In the n…