This document covers the poem: 'Chainsaw vs Pampas Grass' from the Poems of the Decade Poetry. I studied this poem for my A Level, Edexcel English Literature Exam as part of the poetry module. By constructing these summarises and notes these provided me with ideas and themes which I could for my es...
• Competition between both the ‘chainsaw’ and the ‘Pampas grass’
• Battle
• Human against nature
• Impossible competition to be able to win
Structure:
• Eight stanzas in the poems, but aren’t in a particular pattern. Suggests the uncertainty created
by the industrial world with both man and machinery. The longer stanzas are partially notably
the machinery. Highlights the dominance of man through longer stanzas of the poem to
highlight their assertion in the patriarchy against women. Men have the control highlighting the
appeared inferior nature of women
• Free verse highlights constant battle between man and nature. Man will never win is the sad
and unavoidable truth. Contemporary battle between man and machine
• Variation in line length, going from one extreme of just three or four words on a line, to nine or
more. Inconsistency could cause confusion to the reader especially when coupled with variation
in stanza length. Mix of line lengths is also representative of destructive nature of the chainsaw,
and its reckless and unrestricted power in turn damaging and destroying in the structure of the
poem, making it look uneven and fragmented.
• No enjambment between stanzas with each one in its own section with end-stopped lines.
Suggests control of humanity over natural form and structure with unnatural barriers with
readers perhaps considering the difference in the poem if there were free-flowing stanzas with
less end-stopped lines; creating a more natural structure
• Throughout the poem there's a conversational structure, with a mix of short and long sentences
to create an informal tone with phrases such as ‘knocked back’ and range of punctuation
combining to this effect.
• Ellipsis in ‘spider’s wool’ creates an extended pause, whereas the regular use of hyphens further
breaks up the structure of the poem. This is likely to be highly effective for a reader if read aloud
because it would further emphasise these pauses in the natural rhythm of speech
• Repetition of ‘cut and raked’ is suggestive of the merciless nature of the destruction of man
against nature. The caesura between the two it equally notable with the repetition by
highlighting the repetitive process in the destruction of man. Not only this but wider scale
destruction such as that of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. Highlights the responsibility of
humans for the destruction of the natural world and the consequences that this will inevitably
cause.
• Two parenthetical declarative sentences ‘it didn’t exist’ and ‘this was a game’ suggesting that
the battle in which they are fighting is not real. Figurative and literal idea of the battle being
over. Lack of femininity highlights flaw in masculine situation. Regrowth without human
intervention
, Language:
• First sentence ‘it seemed an unlikely match’. The idea of ‘match’ immediately contradicts the
idea of the liminal battle that takes place, as suggested by the title. Suggests that despite the
contrast between man and machinery they have one thing in common. Their desire to destruct
the natural world. Highlights the vindictive nature of this
• One of the key poetic devices used by Armitage is personification. First stanza with description
of ‘grinding its teeth’ and ‘it knocked back’ which makes the object more formidable through
the combination of the existing qualities of a chainsaw with the added ability and power of
humans. Could be interpreted as representing humans and their destruction of the
environment.
• The beginning of the poem alludes to a ‘darkroom’ becomes imagery and creates observative
imagery to apprehend the reader who forced to highlight their catastrophic decision in time
which will have universal effects.
• The ‘quarter-pint of engine oil/ and juices’ represents fuel potentially used in a car, or the food
that humans have to eat in order to function. Puts humans at the responsibility for giving the
chainsaw this threatening life that it appears to exert
• Alliteration through ‘weightless wreckage of wasps’ amplifies the burden on the personas mind
that ultimately trigged this attitude. Represents the human impulsive nature and the desire for
destruction
• Armitage uses the ‘mouth-balled in spider's wool...’ that is shorter over the original line perhaps
to suggest the uncertainty and conflict that is bought by the use of machinery. The metaphorical
‘spiders wool’ could suggest the persona feels trapped in these feelings. They feel they must act
before they are consumed by them
• ‘Then dropped the safety catch and gunned the trigger’. Potentially reflecting the human
decision to turn on the machinery. In the dynamic verb ‘gunned’ personifies the machinery to
express it violent and maniac tendencies echoing that of the human will for destruction
• Triple of ‘cloth, or jewellery, or hair’. Increasingly important royalties disregarded in everyday
life that become symbolic when faced with death. The potential harm that this machinery could
have in the destruction of humans. Highlights the merciless nature of the machinery
• The oxymoron between ‘bloody desire’ emphasises the masculine human, industrial desire to
destruct the world around us, which is ironic due to all human's capability to murder, and
personifies the chainsaw in order to displace an allusive blame.
• ‘Its sweet tooth’ equally personifies the machinery to become ironic due to its lust to destruct,
potentially the natural world. Represents the indulgence in destructions which equally threatens
‘the flesh of the face and the bones’. By categorising human body part next to the merciless
nature of the machinery helps to identify the consuming nature of the industrial world which
humans are indulging in which is destroying themselves
• Ideas also become more apparent due to the repeated use of certain sounds in the poem
through ‘felt’ ‘flesh’ and ‘flare’ occurring repeatedly towards the end of the third stanza which
sounds like the humming of an engine suggesting ideas of power of human machinery
• ‘Pampas grass with its ludicrous feathers’ imagery illustrates the violence against the power of
nature, yet despite that fragility it also emphasises the strength of femininity that nature
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