Farm Implements and Rutabagas in a Landscape Man and the Natural World Quotes

The title of the poem is a parody of the title of a landscape painting. European painters often painted scenes of natural beauty in which nature is tamed and domesticated for human use. Unlike a city, the agricultural landscape is not overpowered by human activity. The title presents an old-fashioned view of nature.

The first stanza sets up a contrast between Popeye, who sits in some unspecified "country," and a small, cramped apartment. Apartments are associated with urban life. People in the city don't think about what is going on in the country, and Popeye is "unthought of."

Isn't there a 1980s movie about killer flowers? Seriously, who gets injured by flower petals? Olive's scratching is a sign of how humans and nature don't quite get along in this poem.