“DO YOU HEAR THE NEW…”
By:
July 7, 2026
A series dedicated to poems, published c. 1900–1935, the Radium Age sf-adjacent themes of which include: dystopia and utopia, far-out mathematics and the fourth dimension, Afro-futurism, catastrophe, future war, new technologies, scientific breakthrough, dehumanization, cosmic awe, disenchantment and unseen forces, unknowable aliens and singularity. Research and selection by Joshua Glenn; thematic index here.
Master, there’s something new
droning and drumming.
It has its heralds too,
praising its coming.
Ill though our ears withstand
such perturbation,
now the machines demand
their celebration.
Source of our weakness
now, and in vengeful rage
ruining our heritage,
us shall these things at length,
us, who supply their strength,
serve in all meekness.
— The Sonnets to Orpheus are a cycle of 55 sonnets written in 1922 by Rilke. It was first published in 1923. This selection — Sonnet XVIII of the First Part — was translated into English in 1936 by J.B. Leishman.
Here Rilke calls on Orpheus (the mythical “Master” of music and poetry) to witness the technological revolution of the early 20th century, which he saw as a noisy, destructive force that “deforms and demeans” humanity.
RADIUM AGE PROTO-SF POETRY: Stephen Spender’s THE PYLONS | George Sterling’s THE TESTIMONY OF THE SUNS | Archibald MacLeish’s EINSTEIN | Thomas Thornely’s THE ATOM | C.S. Lewis’s DYMER | Stephen Vincent Benét’s METROPOLITAN NIGHTMARE | Robert Frost’s FIRE AND ICE | Aldous Huxley’s FIFTH PHILOSOPHER’S SONG | Sara Teasdale’s “THERE WILL COME SOFT RAINS” | Edith Södergran’s ON FOOT I HAD TO… | Robert Graves’s WELSH INCIDENT | Nancy Cunard’s ZEPPELINS | D.H. Lawrence’s WELLSIAN FUTURES | & many more.