"Pity this busy monster, manunkind" is a poem written as a warning against excessive human pride and in defense of the natural world. It is written in a playful, slightly sarcastic tone.

In the poem the speaker says that "A world of made / is not a world of born," meaning that a world full of science and technology, of "electrons" and "lenses," is not a natural world and not a world we should become too preoccupied with. The speaker also says that "Progress is a comfortable disease." The implication here is that scientific and technological progress may make our lives more comfortable, but ultimately it is a disease because it pulls us too far away from the natural world. The speaker describes this natural world as "a hell / of a good universe next door."

The playful, sarcastic tone of the poem is suggested by lines such as "pity poor flesh . . . but never this / fine specimen of hypermagical / ultraomnipotence." These hyperbolic descriptions of mankind as "hypermagical" and "ultraomnipotent" are playful, sarcastic allusions to the excessive pride of mankind, which stems from the aforementioned technological and scientific progress. The speaker wants to remind us that excessive pride is foolish.