Chainsaw versus the Pampas Grass

Simon Armitage

‘It seemed an unlikely match’

Indicates violence instigated by the chainsaw can affect anyone.

‘grinding its teeth’

Violence, beginning of monstrous violent imagery.

‘it knocked back a quarter-pint of engine oil’

Engine oil is a euphemism for alcohol. Despite alcohol being a typically masculine association, the indefinite pronoun ‘it’ is used to describe the chainsaw, adding to the writer’s depiction that violence affects anybody.

‘juices ran from its joints and threads’

‘unplugged’

Coming back alive after being ‘unplugged’. However, this could also reference sexual juices.

‘From the summerhouse’

‘winter’

jump between ‘winter’ and the ‘summerhouse’, emphasises the chainsaw is coming back to ‘life’ rapidly.

‘powder from a keg’

Explosive. Foreshadowing of the vicious attack launched by the chainsaw.

‘gunned the trigger’

Referring to the chainsaw as as a gun, exaggerating its violent nature.

‘instant rage’

personification of the chainsaw. Setting up the violence of the chainsaw and meeting the pampas grass.

‘cloth, jewellery, or hair’

These are objects often associated with femininity, which adds credence to the interpretation that the poem is a criticism of male violence inflicted upon women.

‘bloody desire’

‘Bloody’ connotes murder. ‘Bloody desire’ could be interpreted as desire for murder. However, ;’desire’ also alludes to sex. Again, male violence + male sexual violence.

‘sweet tooth.. flesh of the face and the bones underneath’

‘Sweet tooth’ is often a phrase used to refer to candy. However, Armitage diverts it by having it referred to alongside murder. Manmade application as destructive, as well as male violence?

‘I let it flare, lifted it into the sun’

Allusion to how humans do not control their anger, which could be interpreted as Armitage exploring the effects of uncontrolled human emotions on other humans.

criticising how anger in males is celebrated, especially because of the violence it causes.

‘ludicrous feathers and plumes’

‘stealing the show’

volta. The Pampas Grass is a feminine symbol.

‘stealing the show’ = personification used to convey the invasive nature of the plant.

‘Overkill’

‘I’

‘It didn’t exist’

‘Overkill’ alludes to the destruction manmade items bring to the natural world, which is extended upon as ‘it {doesn’t} exist’ after. It does not destroy it, it erases it out of existence. The simple sentence also shows the finality of the act, the simplicity of it.

Male violence

‘swooned’

‘this was a game’

‘dark secret warmth’

‘swooned’ and the ‘dark secret warmth’ being ‘ripped into’ is more evidence for the poem being about male violence, as it is sexual imagery. Furthermore, the idea of the violence being a ‘game’ insinuates the speaker is enjoying this, similar to how men enjoy killing women.

‘I lifted’

the controller of the chainsaw is doing the acts, but since the chainsaw is likened to a separate entity due to the personification, this could allude to how those who control society (government) help with assault, as suggested by the sexual implications of the .lifting of ‘the fringe of the undergrowth’

‘cut and raked, cut and raked’

Repetitive nature of violence.

‘that woudn’t.. be prized from the earth’ immediately followed by the speaker wanting to ‘finish things off’

‘finish things off’ is a collocation frequently used in violent jargon. However, it cannot be ‘prized from the earth’, focusing on the impossible nature of the task and showing violence as persistent and extreme.

‘but the blade became choked’

Man destroying nature has a harmful impact on humanity as well as nature.

An excess of violence can lead to imprisonment.

‘I poured barbecue fluid’

‘I left it at that’

The violence and destruction mankind inflicts jupon nature and women still persists in the alternative form of ‘barbecue fluid’ despite the chainsaw being ‘choked’

The poem, which featured extreme violence, is closed with a simple sentence, trivialising the violence due to its brief, anticlimactic nature.