An essay comparing the relationship between humanity and nature in the two poems from the Poems of the Decade anthology: Armitage's 'Chainsaw versus the Pampas Grass' and Burnside's 'History'. Written by a current university student that achieved an A* in English Literature A level by memorising th...
Compare the ways in which the relationship between human beings and the natural world in
‘Chainsaw versus the Pampas Grass’ and one other poem.
An immediate point of comparison between Simon Armitage’s poem ‘Chainsaw versus the Pampas
Grass’ and John Burnside’s poem ‘History’, is that they both explore the relationship between
human beings and the natural world. However, whilst the poem ‘Chainsaw versus the Pampas Grass’
focuses on what human arrogance and destructive masculinity can impose on nature, the poem
‘History’ conveys the detrimental impact human beings collectively have on the natural world.
From the outset of ‘Chainsaw versus the Pampas Grass,’ one might imagine that human machines
might triumph over pampas grass, symbolic of the natural world, as Armitage opens the poem by
stating that the contest between the chainsaw and the pampas grass “seemed like an unlikely
match.” This is because of the way in which the chainsaw is initially characterised as aggressive and
resentful through the anthropomorphic descriptions of “grinding its teeth in a plastic sleeve” and
hung “nose-down from a hook in a dark room.” The personification Armitage employs builds up a
sense of anger and revenge of the machine in the hands of the speaker, and foreshadows the
violence that will be unleashed onto the non-indigenous pampas grass. Therefore, the battle could
be representative of the unnecessary destruction humans inflict upon parts of the natural world that
we view as an adversary.
Whilst the battle between man and nature takes place in the contained environment of the
speaker’s garden in ‘Chainsaw versus the Pampas Grass,’ Burnside portrays the damage humans
have done to the natural world over time on a wider scale in ‘History,’ which is set post nine-eleven
on a seemingly peaceful beach. Instantaneously, Burnside depicts the collective impact humanity has
on nature, in the opening stanza:
“Today / as we flew the kites
- the sand spinning off in ribbons along the beach
And that gasoline smell from Leuchars gusting across”
The use of the inclusive pronoun “we” invokes an underlying sense of communal responsibility
which is present throughout the poem. The innocent pleasures of “kite” flying is juxtaposed against
war planes, and the “gasoline smell from Leuchars” from North Sea oil rigs intruding upon the serene
scene of the beach – serving as a reminder of toxic human activity that is ruining the beautiful
scenery of nature.
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