Analysis of Barbara Hamby's "Invention": Structure and Meaning

Poem Structure and Format

Barbara Hamby's poem Invention employs a fairly unique format. It is written in a story mode that almost represents a stream of consciousness of the writer. Two lines are paired together before a break; however, the breaks do not correspond with punctuation, and sentences are free to spill over into the next section. This creates an interesting and somewhat fragmented design for the poem's structure. The formal unconventionality is not merely decorative—it enacts the very fragmentation and associative leaping that the poem's content explores.

Civilization and Human Innovation

The beginning of the poem alludes to the author's fascination with the development of civilization and the technologies that have helped move it forward. Hamby suggests that if it were up to her, people would still be chasing boars and clubbing them to death. She doesn't believe that she could have come up with the technology herself to make these progressions. However, there is one exception: she believes she could handle the development of poetry and theatre. This selective confidence reveals Hamby's skepticism about humanity's ability to generate truly original inventions, while simultaneously asserting a realm of human creativity—the arts—where invention seems possible.

The Logic of Everyday Inventions

Yet inventions such as bread seem elusive and almost accidental. She states that wheat must have been a weed—something that grows in the wild. The first bread inventor would have had to find the weed, smash and grind it, add water, and mix it with mold (yeast) to make a finished product. The author also mentions throwing rocks at birds and grilling them, contrasting this primitive practice with a modern supermarket. As explored in the history of agriculture, many foundational foods emerged from trial and error rather than intentional design. Modern technologies can seem unfathomable when one considers all the necessary steps that must have been taken for their development.

Aliens and Alternative Explanations

Once the reference to Safeway is made, the conversation quickly jumps to aliens—an interesting connection, especially given that tabloid magazines in supermarket checkout lanes often contain outlandish articles about extraterrestrial visitors. The author claims that aliens quit visiting Earth because people have become too verbose and vulgar. She doesn't seem to believe that humanity has the capacity to make all the inventions she lists. Instead, she suggests that some bored alien swooped in to give us technology and help us along. Furthermore, everyone would already know this if the CIA wasn't responsible for the cover-up. Yet despite the CIA's efforts, some scientists are beginning to tell the story.

The poem further elaborates on these aliens, claiming they bred with humans. However, the humans were probably gross, as were the aliens who patrolled the outer reaches of the universe. Whatever the case, the aliens apparently bred with Swedish descendants and produced blonde hair, blue eyes, large eyes, musical ability—and there is said to have been a racially pure colony for a few thousand years before it diffused into the greater population. This absurdist tangent demonstrates Hamby's use of satirical exaggeration to critique not only human self-importance but also pseudoscientific conspiracy theories that circulate in popular culture. For more context on how such theories emerge, see pseudoarchaeology and its cultural role.