Chainsaw Versus The Pampas Grass Flashcards
What is the structure of the poem?
-8 stanzas of irregular length (vary from 5 to 11 lines)
-no rhyme scheme (free verse)
-conversational tone
-lines are different in length to create a fragmented image as if it was cut like the grass
-use of colloquialism to make the poem easy to understand
-structure is inconsistent, matching the progress of the poem
What are the key themes in the poem?
-man vs nature
-gender roles
-social class
-violence
Evidence for the poem being an assault on nature
Sexual semantic field: “I took up the saw and drove it vertically downwards into the upper roots” : chainsaw is raping nature
“I ripped into pockets of dark, secret warmth”
What are the different meaning of “match” in the first stanza?
Competition
Romance
Light a fire
What technique is present throughout the entire poem?
Personification
Examples of personification
“Grinding its teeth” “it knocked back a quarter pint” “instant rage”
Analysis of “sweet tooth”
-homographic pun for literal tooth but also a tooth of a chainsaw. Symbolises greed for destruction and violence
“For the flesh of the face”
Fricatives which create an image the the scene is overwhelming, colourful and swift
“It’s footstools, cushions”
Chremamoprhism: suggests that the grass is soft, gentle, passive
Examples of colloquial idioms and expressions
“Finish things off” “stealing the show” “i left it a year” which amplifies the speaker’s pride
Where is anaphora in the poem and what does it symbolise?
Third stanza, “and felt”, “and felt” which emphasises the fear and awe the speaker feels for the chainsaw’s power
Examples of syntactical patterning
“I touched” “i dabbed” “i lifted” “i ripped” : suggests speaker’s enthusiasm for destruction
What does enjambment do in the poem?
Speeds up the pace to amplify the speaker’s growing anger and frustration
