"A poet can write about a man slaying a dragon, but not about a man pushing a button that releases a bomb"

W. H. Auden’s observation draws attention to the challenge modern technology poses to the imagination and to the role of poetry in grappling with its consequences. The image of a man slaying a dragon belongs to the realm of myth and fable, where the individual's heroism and agency are dramatically displayed. The dragon embodies evil or chaotic forces to be confronted; the act is direct, visceral, and immediately comprehensible. Within such stories, the stakes are physical and ethical, and the actions of the hero can be apprehended through the intimate scale of personal struggle.

Contrast this with the modern scenario: a man pushing a button to release a bomb. The act is solitary, simplified to an abstract gesture, and its results are catastrophic but distanced. Here, the connection between cause and effect is technologically mediated. The immense destruction unleashed is not witnessed directly by the agent, nor shaped by any physical prowess, courage, or struggle. The sheer scale and impersonal nature of technological warfare trouble the poet’s ability to create meaning from the act. The push of a button lacks the rich narrative texture, motivation, fear, confrontation, risk, that characterizes the slaying of a dragon.

Auden points toward the difficulty of representing morally and existentially significant events when they occur through mechanisms that dissolve individuality and immediacy. The modern world, whose most profound actions are conducted by remote control and at overwhelming scale, eludes the imaginative and ethical frameworks that poetry traditionally employs. The ancient stories resonate because they allow for an intimate engagement with human agency and consequence, while the technological age challenges poets to find new forms and language capable of making sense of actions that are at once mundane and apocalyptic. The imagination may falter before the abstract horrors wrought by pushing a button, revealing a gap between poetic tradition and the realities of modern life.