"Chainsaw Versus the Pampas Grass" - Simon Armitage (POD)

overall meaning

in this poem, Simon Armitage describes a speaker trying to cut down pampas grass (which is an invasive, spiky plant that is difficult to eradicate, but wouldn't be difficult to cut down) with a chainsaw, in a comedic description of complete overkill. the poem explores man’s violent, controlling approach to nature, and the ultimate futility of this: the poem ends with the speaker giving up and the pampas grass growing new shoots

themes

• man vs nature

• violence

• power

• excess/’overkill’

• masculinity

“it seemed an unlikely match”

• establishes the humorous tone of the poem

“grinding its teeth in a plastic sleeve”

• the chainsaw is associated with violence and frustration, but its personification makes this funny

“when offered the can/it knocked back a quarter-pint of engine oil/ and juices ran from its joints and threads”

• Armitage personifies the chainsaw as distinctly masculine as its consumption of engine oil is here compared to drinking alcohol (‘knocked back a quarter-pint’)

• Armitage’s colloquial language and personification again, though, imbue this with humour to alleviate any serious social criticism

“no gearing up or getting to speeds, just an instant rage”

• the speaker is defined by masculine impulsivity rather than self-control

“the chainsaw with its bloody desire, its sweet tooth/for the flesh of face and the bones underneath/ its grand plan to kick back against nail or knot/ and rear up into the brain”

• Armitage shifts his use of imagery to now describe the chainsaw with animalistic power rather than as human. it is presented as sentient, malicious, and blood-thirsty.

• ‘bloody desire’ ‘its sweet tooth/for the flesh’ adds levity to and even trivialises the chainsaw’s violence, which may add humour or reinforce the speaker’s naivety

• the animalistic imagery (‘rear up’) ironically aligns the chainsaw more with the natural, and therefore the pampas grass, than the human, which may undermine human power in the poem

“the pampas grass with its ludicrous feathers/ and plumes”

• the pampas grass is described through excessive mockery (‘ludicrous’) which reinforces the humour of the poem. the reference to ‘feathers/ and plumes’ also feminise the pampas grass, and you could analyse this poem not only as a conflict of man vs nature but also man vs woman

“the pampas grass ‘sunning itself/stealing the show with its footstools, cushions and tufts/ and its twelve-foot spears”

• ironically, in contrast to the wild, almost animalistic language associated with the speaker and the chainsaw, the pampas grass is described as regal and dignified. this quote develops the one above it, insofar as it also presents the pampas grass through excessive mockery by suggesting that it is vain, and also presents it as effeminate. however, this adds a layer of meaning beyond that of the previous quote, because Armitage also highlights the pampas grass power in contrast to the speaker’s, through the regal imagery and that of defence and violence (‘twelve-foot spears’)

• speaker’s hated of the pampas grass, further reinforced through Armitage’s use of sibilance in this line, may expose male insecurity

• the fifth stanza exemplifies the poem’s focus on overkill

“the sledgehammer taken to crack the nut”

• the differences in scale illustrated in this quote highlight the speaker’s disproportionate response to the plant, a criticism of both humanity’s violent, excessive desire to impose control on nature

“probably all that was needed here was a good pull”

• there is comedy created in the speaker’s acknowledgement that what he is doing is completely excessive and unnecessary

“overkill”

• Armitage’s use of caesura places emphasis on this word specifically, forcing the reader to pause in a stanza filled with excessive, hyperbolic description, to consider the speaker’s self-aware analysis of the situation

“i lifted the fringe of the undergrowth, carved at the trunk - / plant juice spat from the pipes and tubes/ and dust flew out as i ripped into pockets of dark, secret/warmth”

• Armitage uses phallic imagery in direct contrast to the previous feminine imagery used to describe the pampas grass. ironically, while the femininity of the pampas grass is what inspires the speaker’s irrational hatred of it, it is the plant’s masculine qualities that actually resist and fight back against the speaker. the plant therefore becomes somewhat androgynous, and we may the trouble the extent to which this poem truly lacks the triumph of female power over hypermasculinity

“i took up the saw/ and drove it vertically downwards into the upper roots/ but the blade became choked with soil or fouled with weeds/ or what was sliced or split somehow closed and mended behind, like cutting water or air with a knife”

• you may consider this quote phallic, therefore aligning with the analysis in the previous bullet point. the simile at the end (‘like cutting water or air with a knife’) presents the pampas grass as elusive and connected distinctly to the natural world

“new shoots like asparagus tips/sprang up from its nest and by June/ it was riding high in its saddle, wearing a new crown./Corn in Egypt”

• Armitage highlights the renewal and persistence of the pampas grass in stark contrast to the speaker, who gives up almost immediately. ‘i left it at that’

• the regal imagery of the pampas grass returns here

• ‘corn in Egypt’ is a Biblical reference to the story of Joseph, who stockpiles corn which allows Egypt to survive a famine. this hyperbolises and almost mythologises the pampas grass as a stockpiling nation dealing with natural disaster - the hyperbole creates humour

how is the poem defined by irregularity and what may this reflect

• irregular stanza lengths, line lengths, no regular rhyme or metre

• this may reflect the chaotic relationship between man and nature, the impulsivity of the speaker, and the refusal of the pampas grass to be controlled by humans

why does Armitage intersperses short sentences

to express the speakers thoughts, which emphasise his powerlessness and stupidity: ‘i left it at that’

what does the regular use of caesura suggest

division, physically enacting the separation between man and nature

what does Armitage’s use of half-rhyme suggest

disconnect and dissatisfaction, reflecting both the disconnect between man and nature and the unsatisfying ending for the speaker

what does the half rhyme of “together/trigger” suggest

ironically combines the images of connection and violence, highlighting the absurdity of the speaker’s project