chainsaw vs pampas grass Flashcards
structure/form
dramatic monologue
free verse-colloquial
8 irregular length stanzas
*Circular structure – poem ends where it beings with the chainsaw under the stairs.
*Has an irregular structure, no rhyme scheme. Could mirror the unjustified and uninhibited rage of the speaker (+chainsaw).
*First 3 stanzas: lines progress inwards, like a chainsaw carving into something. The final stanzas – this is reversed, motion changes?
*More conventional rhymes by the end of the poem.
*The separation of the stanzas, without any enjambment or connection between them, shows clearly two elements in conflict.
STANZA 1
*‘Unlikely match’ – short, empathetic sentence introduces idea of conflict, an unequal or unfair fight.
*Chainsaw personified/zoomorphised – ‘grinding its teeth, like an animal ready to attack.
*‘Plastic sleeve’ and ‘maker’s name’ = semantic field of the manmade, industrial.
*‘Knocked back a quarter-pint’ – idea of masculinity, like men in a bar drinking. Chainsaw represents masculinity?
*‘Juices ran from its joints and threads’ – vitality, the chainsaw coming to life. Vivid, gruesome imagery.
STANZA 2
*‘one last gulp’ – depiction is vivid
*‘Weightless wreckage […] moth-balled in spider’s wool…’ – ellipsis at the end of sentence suggests length of time they have been there, sense of danger or a sinister tone. Repeated ‘w’ sound resembles sound of machinery/chainsaw – foreshadows threatening destruction of the chainsaw.
*Methodical tedium – the speaker playing a large role in preparing the chainsaw.
‘Day-glo orange power-line’ – eyesore, unnatural orange colour against green grass – suggests human intrusion into nature.
*‘… gunner the trigger’ – tedium moves to threat, the chainsaw being described as a gun – hints at human violence as the chainsaw (previously animalistic) is now controlled by human speaker.
STANZA 3
*Repeated ‘sh’ sound of ‘rush’ and ‘lashing’ = sibilance mirrors the chainsaw through air
*‘Perfect disregard’ – chainsaw not burdened by free will, destroys without conscience.
*‘Cloth, or jewellery, or hair.’ – violence can penetrate even beautiful and delicate things.
*‘Bloody desire, its sweet tooth’ / ‘drumming in its heart’, ‘gargle in its throat’ = personification of chainsaw, the phrase ‘sweet tooth’ is incongruous to description, suggesting the chainsaw enjoys the destruction?
*‘For the flesh of the face and the bones underneath’ – progression in words. Chainsaw is no longer tangling with clothes and hair, instead cutting through flesh and bone.
*‘Grand plan’ – plotted, motives.
*‘I let it flare…’ = like the chainsaw it revered and the speaker is appreciating it. Also, ‘let it’ reiterates human control, shows how ultimately the speaker is the one acting. (Despite repeated reference to the chainsaw’s anger and destructive nature).
*‘And felt, and felt’ – anaphora creates an almost biblical depiction of the ferocious, vicious nature of the chainsaw.
*‘Drumming…’ – rhythmic/violent sense created. Also a warlike atmosphere (versus)
*‘Gargle’ – choking or suffocating – on blood?
*Uncontrollable – the speaker enjoys the “anger” of the chainsaw, there is no accountability for him
STANZA 4
*‘Pampas grass’ – South American plant, not natural or belonging elsewhere. Othering of an alien plant or foreign species, justifying his violence.
*Plosive alliteration of ‘pampas’ and ‘plumes’ link the lines, connotes violence.
*‘Ludicrous feathers’ – plant is ostentatious, affronting.
*‘Taking the warmth and light…’ – he is protecting a younger generation?
*‘Sunning itself’ = selfish, taking warmth for itself.
*‘Stealing the show…’ – luxury, plant taking too much. Vanity – the plant has a feminine association? Masculinity of chainsaw contrasted by femininity of pampas grass.
*‘Twelve foot spears’ = outdate compared to chainsaw? Also violent, more primitive violence than his technological and industrial tools
*Syntactic parallel of ‘the chainsaw with its bloody desire, its sweet tooth’ and ‘the pampas grass with its ludicrous feathers and plumes’. The chainsaw and plant are symbolic of each other.
STANZA 5
*‘Sledgehammer to crack the nut’ – idiom. Not precise, excessive violence. Speaker not taking the time to use an easier or more gentle solution (also one that might work better in the long term).
*‘Good pull or shove…’ – gentle compared to the crazed violence of the chainsaw – gentle methods are more effective over time?
*‘Overkill’ = blunt reality, acceptance by the speaker of his excessive thirst for violence? Holophrasis (holophrasistic).
*‘Touched the blur…’ into ‘it didn’t exist’ = small, subtle, or insignificant movement causing disproportionate destruction.
*‘Dabbed’, ‘docked’, ‘dismissed’ = gentle, negates blame or guilt from the speaker. Speaker is at no fault.
*‘Couple of heads’ etc = like theres a quota or numerical figure to meet
*‘Sideways sweep’ – sibilance mirrors motion
*‘This was a game’ – lack of remorse, no guilt for what he’s done
*‘I lifted the fringe…secret warmth’ – sexual connotations in 5th stanza? Furthers theme of masculinity vs femininity. Generalisation of violence, ambiguity of what kind of violence it is now reflecting. Sexual violence against women accumulated into total cost of war. Murder and sexual violence = encounter becomes emotive. ALSO stanza mirrors line structure three times, progressing inwards like a stanza carving into something.
STANZA 6
*Stanza similar to stanza 2 – speaker describes his task methodically, with a repetition of ‘cut and raked’ to suggest he knows what he is doing.
*Language is vivid and muscular, hard consonants e.g ‘blade’, ‘choked’, ‘closed’, ‘cutting’, ‘smoked’, ‘patch’ suggest vigorous work.
*Semantic field of active and aggressive verbs reinforce sense of effort, e.g ‘clear’, ‘raked’, ‘felled’, ‘drove’, ‘choked’, ‘dug’, ‘sliced’, ‘split’, ‘threw’ etc.
*His failure is suggested in the phrase ‘wanting to finish things off’ – clear he won’t be finished. Pampas grass in ineradicable. Attempt to burn the root seems half-hearted, an anti-climactic end to aggressive rage.
*‘I left it at that’ = true anti-climax, could leave the reader thinking the chainsaw has one (thought ended by the next stanza).
STANZA 7
*Pampas grass hasn’t been killed, instead is ‘riding high in its saddle’, wearing a ‘new crown’. Grass (nature) victorious over the chainsaw (industrial).
*‘Corn in Egypt’ = biblical reference, story of Joseph and the corn to survive the famine.
*‘Midday moon’ = oxymoronic, something that shouldn’t be possible – like the almost ridiculous strength and perseverance of the grass. Inevitability of nature, unable to intervene or stop it.
STANZA 8
Back below the stairs…’ – circular, poem ends where it began.
*‘Seethed’ – chainsaw has lost its potency. Angry at its failure.
*‘Man-made dreams’ – could be the personification of the chainsaw, but also could be a reference to how in the hands of the speaker (man) the chainsaw becomes a weapon or tool for the desire or the wielder, hence its dreams are ‘man-made’. TRANSFERRED EPITHET.
*Final defeat of the chainsaw – the blurred, ambiguous ‘rage’ of man and chainsaw become only an ‘urge to persist’ hidden under the stairs. Nature triumphs.
rhyme scheme/ metre
none
brief summary
It presents a conflict between a feminine depiction of nature and a masculine hyperaggressive machine.
Despite the violence inflicted by a man, the grass grows again implying that nature and order will always return.
significance of end stopped lines
End stopped lines- control by humanity of form which is meant to be natural.
cesura in the middle of first line effect
perfaces ominousity
THEMES
*HUMAN TECHNOLOGY VERSUS NATURE – Industrial destruction of the chainsaw can’t destroy the roots of the pampas grass.
*VIOLENT FORCE VERSUS QUIET PERSISTENCE – gentle persistence and endurance can beat aggressive displays of force. Stereotypical masculinity versus stereotypical femininity – through the symbolism of the violent chainsaw and peaceful grass.
SUMMARY
-The poem depicts the speaker’s attempt to cut down the pampas grass growing in their garden using a chainsaw. Despite initially succeeding in cutting the grass, they ultimately cannot remove the root of the plant and unsuccessfully tries to burn the patch. The poem ends with the speaker looking out at the window at the grass re-growing, the chainsaw shut away under the stairs again.
‘grinning its teeth’
personified, depicted as animalistic/zoomorphised
‘when offered the can it knocked back a quarter pint of engine oil’
-‘offered’ suggests free will
-like men in a bar - masculinity
‘juices ran from its joints and threads, oozed… into the dry links’
-alliteration w/ ‘j’
-juices suggests life w erotic association
-dry links suggests hydration/rejuvenation
‘day-glo orange power line’
-eye-sore colour orange suggests intrusiveness + unnaturalness
‘to tangle with cloth, or jewellery, or hair’
-alludes to the extent of its potential damage (VIOLENCE TO FEMININTY)
‘the pampas grass with its ludicrous feathers’
-syntatic parallel w stanza 3 line 5 - they’re antithetical symbols of each other
-Introduction to other side
‘twelve foot spears’
-suggests another side to the plant
-counters the femininity w phallic/violent image
‘plant juice spat from the pipes and tubes’
-as if killing a human, it ‘bleeds’ from pipes imitating veins/arteries + juice imitating blood
‘i ripped into pockets of dark, secret warmth’
-a hint at the grass’ strength; erotic but suggests reserves of toughness
-Suggestive of rape- maculine violence to women
‘riding high in its saddle, wearing a new crown’
-suggests victory + dominion over humanity
‘corn in Egypt.’
-Biblical allusion to Joseph
-Full stop suggests power + control
‘its man made dreams’
-hypallage - its the man’s dreams, not the chainsaw’s
-puts humanity at the root
