Chainsaw Versus the Pampas Grass Flashcards
‘It seemed an unlikely match. All winter unplugged,
grinding its’ teeth in a plastic sleeve, the chainsaw swung
Nose-down from a hook in the dark room under the hatch in the floor.’
Unlikely match - Unfair / One sided / Seems like a unfair fight / Pampas Grass is disadvantaged / caesura / Opposites and against one another /
All winter unplugged - Winter connotations of coldness and isolation / literal and metaphorical powerlessness / Hibernation -> Long inactivity makes the sense of leaping into action
Chainsaw swung - Enjambment mirrors the fluidity of the movement of swinging
Grinding its’ teeth - (Personification) Grinding connotations of anxiousness and anxiety / personification
Plastic sleeve - aggressive nature is hindered and nullified
Nose-down - does not want to be seen / ready to do something violent
‘When offered the can
it knocked back a quarter-pint of engine oil
and juices ran from its joints and threads,
oozed across the guide-bar and the maker’s name,
Into the dry links’
It knocked back - Macho masculine nature / Engine oil fuels the chainsaws reckless destruction just as macho men do impulsive and also rash things when drunk / Violent verb
Oil - also is a flammable substance which can cause destruction / chainsaw lives and feeds off this
Juices / Oozed - unnerving, visceral coming to life / Onomatopoeia / Destruction is what gives the chain saw life
Oozed - sense of overflowing / drinking in excess / leaking on the side of the mouth
Enjambment - Engine starting / build up a sense of renewal / Overwhelmingness
From the summer house, still holding one last gulp
Of last year’s heat behind its double doors, and hung
With the weightless wreckage of wasps and flies,
Moth-balled in spider’s wool…
‘Last year’s heat’ - feels as though the place has not been cared for
‘Weightless wreckage of wasps and flies’ - Oxymoron / destructive imagery / sibilance adds to a slow peaceful ad idle pace / contrast to the machine / nature seems weak and docile these things are too weak to survive
… - sets the scene for the action
Enjambment - slow idle pace / death / silence after war
from there, I trailed the day-glo orange power-line
the length of the lawn and the garden path,
fed it out like powder from a keg, then walked
back to the socket and flicked the switch, then walked again
and coupled the saw of the flex - clipped them together.
Then dropped the safety catch and gunned the trigger.
‘Like powder from a keg’ - explosives mirroring the explosive nature of the confrontation of Pampas vs Chainsaw
‘Gunned the trigger’ militaristic imagery as if the man and chainsaw are getting ready for battle
Repetition of ‘then walked’ draws the pacing out more / builds tension
No gearing up or getting to speeds, just an instant rage,
the rush of metal lashing out at air, connected to the main.
The chainsaw with its perfect disregard, its mood
to tangle with cloth, or jewellery, or hair.
The chainsaw with its bloody desire, its sweet tooth
for the flesh of the face and the bones underneath,
its grand plan to kick back against nail or knot
and rear up into the brain.
Gearing up or getting to speeds - chainsaw is preparing for a fight
‘Just an instant rage’ - nothing to be angry about no reason/ irrational anger / working itself into rage so that there can be justifiable destruction
‘Perfect disregard’ - personification/sociopath or psychopath that does not care for anything
‘The rush of metal lashing out at air’ - getting mad and angry at nothing just the ‘air’
rush - connotations of suddenness
Metal lashing - presents continuous / out of control
Rage is inherent, not reactionary
Sweet tooth - euphemism - minimises / chainsaw finds joy in destruction/appetite for destruction
The flesh of face - alliteration underlines the blood thirst for human skin and bloodshed
I let it flare, lifted it into the sun
and felt the hundred beats per second drumming in its heart,
and felt the drive-wheel gargle in its throat.
Polysyndeton - a lot of things happening at once
Anaphora -> Felt focus / as if they are merging and are one
Hundred beats per second - chain saw moving really quickly but also nervousness/ adrenaline
Machine and chainsaw are in control, not the man
Personified -> heart and throat
‘Gargle in its throat’ - choking in anxiety
The pampas grass with its ludicrous feathers
and plumes. The pampas grass, taking the warmth and light
from cuttings and bulbs, sunning itself,
stealing the show with its footstools, cushions and tufts
and its twelve-foot spears.
Anaphora - persona’s disdain is so large that it is all the persona can focus on
‘Ludicrous’ - over the top/surplus / vain
-Peacock imagery
-Misogynistic term
Taking the warmth and light - taking connotations of a lack of consent / does not care about others just itself / just take what it needs / needs both
Sunning itself - reflexive / focus is only on itself
Stealing the show - theatrical and superiority
Twelve-foot spears - although it is vain and selfish there is also a sense of danger and underlying threat / militaristic defence
This was the sledgehammer taken to crack the nut.
Probably all that was needed here was a good pull or shove
or a pitchfork to lever it out at its base.
Overkill.
I touched the blur of the blade
against the nearmost tip of a reed – it didn’t exist.
I dabbed at a stalk that swooned, docked a couple of heads, dismissed the top third of its canes with a sideways sweep
at shoulder height – this was a game.
I lifted the fringe of undergrowth, carved at the trunk –
plant-juice spat from the pipes and tubes
and dust flew out as I ripped into pockets of dark, secret
warmth.
Sledgehammer talent to crack the nut - unproportional / seems as though the pampas grass is indefensible / unequal power relationship
Overkill - one word sentence / impactful
The lack of power and violence within verbs - ‘dabbed’ ‘touched’
Blur of the blade - alliteration / unequal power
Dramatic ceasura -> dash makes it clear just how sudden and complete the chainsaw’s destruction is
A game - playful destruction to the chainsaw / game can also mean the prey during hunting
Fringe - sense of intrusion
Ripped into pockets of dark, secret warmth - Sensual pleasure derived from destruction and violence
Lexical use creates a rape and explotitve air - Man exploits nature without consent just as rape is sexual assult and exploitation of a power dynamic without consent
Plant-Juice - visceral and also blood shed
To clear a space to work
I raked whatever was severed or felled or torn
towards the dead zone under the outhouse wall, to be fired.
Then cut and raked, cut and raked, till what was left
was a flat stump the size of a manhole cover or barrel lid
that wouldn’t be dug with a spade or prized from the earth. Wanting to finish things off I took up the saw
and drove it vertically downwards into the upper roots,
but the blade became choked with soil or fouled with weeds,
or what was sliced or split somehow closed and mended
behind, like cutting at water or air with a knife.
I poured barbecue fluid into the patch
and threw in a match – it flamed for a minute, smoked
for a minute more, and went out. I left it at that.
Structure mirrors language (space)
Severed, felled, torn - verb lexical choices reflect mutilation or complete destruction
Cut and raked - repetition of this / seems mechanic and mindless
The blade become choked - futility of violence
Like cutting at water or air with knife - futility of violence / simile / water and air - forces of nature/ man can never truly destroy nature / nature will prevail it is unphased and unaffected by the cynical and destructive nature of man / efforts are useless
‘Choked’ and ‘fouled’ sense of poisoning natures passive attack to defend itself not an active aggressiveness unlike the chainsaw, weed is not doing anything
In the weeks that came new shoots like asparagus tips
sprang up from its nest and by June
it was riding high in its saddle, wearing a new crown.
Corn in Egypt. I looked on
from the upstairs window like the midday moon.
‘New shoots’ - sense of renewal and images of regrowth / smile / suggests that the grass fresh growth is green and tender
Sprang up - going up and growth
‘Riding high’ and ‘new crown’ - rising up / endstop line / grandiose / present continuous tense
‘Corn in Egypt’ - allusion to the plentiful nature of the grass / fragmented sentence / nature is ancient and long lasting / patriarch Jacob -> abundance of corn / feels anciet and legendary idea of regrowth
‘Midday moon’ distant / unseen and powerless against the prevailing nature
Oppositions from one another / cultured plant vs aggressive machinery / dichotomy
Back below stairs on its hook, the chainsaw seethed.
I left it a year, to work back through its man-made dreams,
to try to forget.
The seamless urge to persist was as far as it got.
The chainsaw seethed - personification and sibilance / passion and anger / unsatisfied
‘Hook’ stuck and physically restrained
Pent up aggression and anger / the pampas grass is just a substitute victim / mans aggression transferred onto the grass via the chainsaw
