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Simon Armitage's 'Chainsaw Versus the Pampas Grass' - Analysis
My notes on Simon Armitage's 'Chainsaw Versus the Pampas Grass,' from "Poems of the Decade: An Anthology of the Forward Books of Poetry."
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Chainsaw Versus the Pampas GrassOverview
The speaker uses a chainsaw to cut down the pampas grass. The chainsaw cutting
the grass is like ‘the sledgehammer taken to crack the nut,’ but despite the chainsaw
mowing down the grass with ease, the poem ends with the image of the grass growing
back.
Lexicon
Aggression (grinding, rage, lashing)
Movement (grinding, juices ran, drumming, urge to persist)
Lexical clusters of machines (joints, threads, metal)
Lexical clusters of body parts (teeth, hearts)
Performance (feathers and plumes, stealing the show)
Lexical repetition of new (new shoots, new crowns)
Appearance rather than action (ludicrous feathers, wearing a new crown)
Decadence and royalty (plumes, footstools, crown)
Repetition of natural plant juice (plant and juice)
Structure
Shift in focus from the powerful aggression of the chainsaw, to the apparent success
over the pampas grass: ‘dismissed the top third of its canes,’ to the demise of the
chainsaw, ‘the blade became choked with soil,’ to the regeneration of the pampas
grass.
Lexis and Syntax
‘Versus’ connotes competition, confirmed in the noun ‘match’ in the first line, and the
phrase ‘this was a game,’ in stanza five, yet this is an equal pairing.
Syntactical repetition of ‘the chainsaw with its. . .’ in stanza three, and the ‘pampas
grass with its. . .’ in stanza four, foreground that one is being pitched against the other.
Lexical clusters of destruction from the ‘wreckage of wasps and flies’ to the verbs in
stanza six: ‘severed or felled or torn,’ in this poem about man’s ‘urge to persist’ even
in futile tasks.
Lexical repetition of work associated with the chainsaw, ‘back below stairs,’ ‘work
back,’ ‘to clear a space to work,’ contrast to the pampas grass who is static, and used
to being observed: ‘sunning itself,’ ‘stealing the show.’ The verb ‘swooned’ is used to
describe the pampas grass: a verb that is associated with the feminine and the
vulnerable.
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