Abstract: We do not generally pay much attention to the many animal metaphors and comparisons contained in the prologue to the first manifesto of futurism. However, analogies with the animal kingdom allow Marinetti to formulate and poeticize the reign of the machine, and also that of mankind. Man mechanizes himself while the machine humanizes—or animalizes—itself. The machine that has become a living being then enters into direct competition with the animal. It takes on the status of organism, thereby legitimating its place in the ecosystem.
