Summary Chainsaw Vs Pampas Grass by simon armitage analysis
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Module
English
Institution
Fifth Year / 11th Grade
This is a full analysis of the poem Chainsaw Vs Pampas Grass by simon armitage which is from the edexel poem anthology. This is a very helpful resource for hs students doing there IAS/IAL.
The poem Chainsaw Versus the Pampas Grass is about a man who
takes a chainsaw to cut down the pampas grass that continues to
grow every year. The chainsaw is a symbol of masculinity and the
poem explores how destructive masculinity can be towards both
nature and femininity.
Themes
Masculinity – the poem looks at the fact that men are
seen as the stronger and more dominant sex, and how
the exert their power over women. There is also this
idea that men are ‘connected to the mains’ therefore
they stick as a pack and are connected to the
mainstream ideas that men are the stronger gender.
War – there is very violent imagery and referencing
throughout the poem which give men a soldier, military
like personality.
Femininity – women are seen as weak and delicate as
shown through the pampas grass and how men see
women as ‘ludicrous’ and don’t like them ‘stealing the
show’ with their beauty.
Tone of the poem
There is an aggressive and violent tone throughout this
poem as we are shown the ‘disregard’ men have for
both nature and femininity. There is also war
like imagery which adds to this tone of violence as
‘plant juice spat from the pipes and tubes’ giving us the
image of spitting blood from the aggression men have
exercised.
Structure
This poem is made up of eight stanzas that have no real
structure. I think the fact that the stanzas are quite
random and uncontrolled is a representation of the lack
of control men have over their anger. It’s almost like
‘lashing out at air’, masculinity has no self-restraint and
like ‘air’ it will strike at anything.
There is a use of fricative sounds in the line ‘for the flesh
of the face’. The sound ‘f’ gives us the impression of
built up tension which could be a representation of the
built up anger that the chainsaw (men) have. The ‘f’
, sound could also be used to try and imitate the sounds
of obscene swearing.
Techniques
The author personifies the chainsaw through the
description of it ‘grinding its teeth’. This further 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 year.
There is also imagery used through the ‘knocked back’
can where ‘juices […] oozed across the guide-bar’. Here
we get this image of someone knocking back a drink to
prepare for a fight, which is also another use
of personification. The fact that this drink is dripping
down the machine gives a resemblance to a careless
alcoholic who gives no awareness to the destruction
that they are causing.
Another example of imagery being used is through the
‘weightless wreckage of wasps and flies’. This is one of
the ways that the theme of war is shown as these
carcasses of dead insects are a clear visual of the
destruction and harm masculinity (chainsaw) has done.
War is started by these men on innocent, defenceless
creatures (women).
Important quotes
‘It seemed an unlikely match’
This is highlighting the war between man made objects and nature.
Objects like a chainsaw were not created to destroy nature.
‘The chainsaw […] with its sweet tooth’
The idea of having a ‘sweet tooth’ is having a craving and feeling of
needing to eat something sweet. In this case violence and aggression
is the chainsaws ‘sweet tooth’ signifying that this violence is
something that men need to exert, it’s become an addiction that
they cannot control.
‘taking the warmth and light’
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