Chainsaw Versus the Pampas Grass - Simon Armitage

What is the poem about?

Armitage writes the poem in the voice of unbalanced people who have a secret or shameful taste for violence. The poem describes a man who uses a chainsaw to violently cut down the plants that are growing within his garden

Form

• No enjambment

• Each stanza is contained within its own section with end-stopped lines

Structure

• A total of eight stanzas with variation in line length

  • Could be seen as representing the destructive nature of the chainsaw

• Conversation structure - a mix of long and short sentences

• Variation in line length - going from one extreme of just three of four words on a line to 9 or more words

  • The inconsistency of line lengths could also be seen as representing the destructive nature of the chainsaw, and it’s reckless and unrestricted power in turn damaging and destroying the structure of the poem, making it look more uneven and fragmented.

Poetic Techniques

• Alliteration

• Similes

• Metaphors

• Sibilance - connotations of snakes and danger makes the reader wary of the chainsaw and its potential

• Powerful and dominant language reinforces the idea of masculine strength

• Imagery of a battlefield - a fight between the chainsaw and the plants

• Military language of gunfire and swordplay - ‘raked, ‘severed’, ‘torn’, ‘dead’

• The personification of the chainsaw (‘grinding its teeth’)

  • Enforces the idea that the chainsaw is the representation of masculinity.

  • ‘grinding teeth’ also gives the impression of built-up anger that has been left to grow over the years.

  • Used to make the objects seem more formidable.

Themes

• Conflict and Power

• Masculinity

Tone

• Conversational manner

• Agressive and violent tone