Bedtime Story by George Macbeth tells a story that takes place in the apocalyptic

future, and it talks about the past and disappearance of humanity from the planet. It is a satire
to mock the destructive and controlling nature of humans, giving the warning that if we
continue our reckless behaviour and deceiving ourselves, it will be the end of us one day.
First of all, the title of the poem is already a trap for the readers expectations. A bedtime
story is usually perceived as a simple and pleasant story for children, a tale of adventure with
the good triumphing over the bad. However, here, the poet mocks the idea of bedtime stories
by parodying their form. The persona describes an incident in the Congo between the
Mission Brigade and its encounter with the last man. Naturally, readers would identify
themselves with this human, wondering what caused him to be the last of his kind, and
wanting him to be safe. Yet we are forced to step into the soldiers shoes as they hunt down
and ultimately kill him. The poet deliberately does this to mock the traditional happy endings
in bedtime stories because he believes they dont exist in real life in reality, the innocent and
good are often destroyed by the scheming or bad.
Secondly, the poet uses a factual and almost emotionless tone throughout the poem to
satirize the unfeeling nature of humans. The persona recounts how the queen is informed that
the last human was killed by an impetuous soldier and it was purely by chance, and how
when she finds out this news, she shows no sorrow or any emotion at all, and neither do any
of the soldier or the persona himself. They attempt to search for his bones to be sealed in the
archives in amber, which is for their own research and gain. The indifferent and unconcerned
attitude they all adopt towards the last mans death mocks the coldness of human nature
unlike the persona, we are actually humans ourselves, yet we often act coldly and unfeelingly
towards others, thinking only of ourselves.
Thirdly, the poet uses a harsh set of diction and includes some fearful visual imagery to
portray the destructive nature of humans, and how this disrupts the peaceful flow of nature.
To start with, the persona talks about how humans from the past had disposed of some
animals whose names (they) scarcely remember, and explains how the humans wars
extinguished the city. Both disposed of and extinguished are words about damaging and
ruining, and the poet deliberately uses them in order to show how harshly and cruelly humans
had destroyed the world. Then, the persona describes the soldiers process of tracking down
the last man, and again, words with harsh and destructive connotations are used. For
example, the soldiers jaws cut swatches through the bark and their fine teeth shine and
the image here resembles one of a fierce shark, devouring its prey. The soldiers are described
to have forked arms and are huge as rough trunks, which also gives the image of a gigantic
monster. At the end of the poem, the last humans body is said to be ground by the teeth of
the termites, blown by the wind. The word ground gives the sense of demolishment and
hardness, while blown gives the sense of being swept away and abandoned, and both words
make the death of the last man seem more painful and melancholy. The use of this set of
diction and imagery is to show the cruel and unforgiving nature of humans, and how, due to
our selfishness and non-compassion, we have destroyed the harmony and peace that was once
found in nature.