Backdrop Addresses Cowboy

“Backdrop Addresses Cowboy” is an early example of Atwood’s political poems. The poem can be considered a work of postmodernism, a movement which concerns itself with deconstructing the individual identity through lenses like race, gender, and sexuality. In “Backdrop Addresses Cowboy,” Atwood questions the defined identity of the central cowboy figure. He is supposed to be heroic and chivalrous, but the poem examines this assumption from various angles. Apart from its thematic concerns, the poem is also post-modernist in its use of pastiche (a collage-like technique), using elements from movies, pop culture, and art to create distinct imagery. The poem’s enjambments and stanzaic structure are also reminiscent of postmodernist word-play and innovations with form. However, “Backdrop Addresses Cowboy” differs from the particular definition of postmodernism which defines a postmodernist work as open-ended in its position.

Atwood’s poem has a very clear position, as is evident in its strong, value-imbued vocabulary and satirical tone. The cowboy has “righteous eyes” (Line 9) and “laconic/ trigger-fingers” (Lines 9-10), which leave behind a “heroic/ trail of desolation” (Lines 14-15). The poem succinctly critiques the cowboy’s actions and what he represents, therefore using the postmodernist tradition to state Atwood’s distinct, unique viewpoint.