JOURNAL ARTICLE

Reading The Machine in the Garden While Billy Mows the Lawn.

  • Published In: Virginia Quarterly Review, 2025, v. 101, n. 3. P. 37 1 of 3

  • Database: Academic Search Ultimate 2 of 3

  • Authored By: CAPRA-THOMAS, CAYLIN 3 of 3

Abstract

The text reflects on the tension between pastoral ideals and harsh realities through the narrator’s experience of mowing the lawn and encountering a wounded rabbit trapped in wire. Drawing on references to Leo Marx’s concept of pastoral design versus pastoral ideal and war poetry by Wilfred Owen and Isaac Rosenberg, the narrative juxtaposes the natural world’s violence with human attempts at care and rescue. Despite efforts to save the injured rabbit, the story acknowledges the inevitability of death and suffering in both nature and human life. The piece concludes with a moment of uneasy coexistence as the rabbit unexpectedly returns, symbolizing resilience amid vulnerability. [Extracted from the article]

Additional Information

  • Source:Virginia Quarterly Review. 2025/09, Vol. 101, Issue 3, p37
  • Document Type:Poem
  • Subject Area:Literature and Writing
  • Publication Date:2025
  • ISSN:0042-675X
  • Accession Number:192168831
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