Give Flashcards
Context of Give by Simon Armitage
Simon Armitage was born in 1963 in West Yorkshire, where he still lives.
He studied Geography at Portsmouth University and completed an MA at Manchester, where he wrote his dissertation on the effects of television violence on young offenders.
He worked as a probation officer, a job which influenced many of the poems in his first collection, Zoom! (1989).
His poetry demonstrates a strong concern for social issues, as well as drawing on his Yorkshire roots.
Armitage is often noted for his “ear” - holding a strong sense of rhythm and metre.
Armitage is not only a poet: as well as publishing 15 collections of poetry, he has written for film, television and radio, completed two novels as well as non-fiction books, and writes the lyrics for his band The Scaremongers.
He has also written translations of the Middle English tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Homer’s Odyssey.
Subject of Give by Simon Armitage
Give is about homelessness and the way in which society reacts to beggars.
The poet has adopted the persona of a homeless person to challenge the reader directly, although initially there is some ambiguity about the speaker.
In the first stanza the word “dear” suggests an intimate connection between the speaker and audience.
Later it becomes clear that the speaker is creating a “scene” by asking for money.
Form and structure of Give by Simon Armitage
The poem is regular in form, divided into five stanzas, each of two or three lines, with a strict eight-syllable count to form a strong metre.
The first stanza is a rhyming couplet, which accentuates the strong rhythm.
Armitage also uses repeated structures in this poem: the third stanza, for example, has three parallel lines introduced by metals of increasing value.
The drama of this parallelism peaks in the final stanza, which has four short sentences over two lines:
You give me tea. That’s big of you.
I’m on my knees. I beg of you.
The way the two lines mirror each other - to the extent that the last sentence of each is very nearly identical - juxtaposes the beggar and “you”, letting the reader compare the two characters.
This is also a rhyming couplet because the last words are the same.
What could the structure be used for?
Perhaps by following a strict structure and rhythm, Armitage is helping create a sense that the beggar is educated, possibly to surprise the reader.
Is it significant that the poem has five stanzas, like the five fingers of an outstretched hand?
Sound of Give by Simon Armitage
Alliteration is used throughout the poem: “public places”; “chosen” and “choose”; “street” and “stars”; “swallow” and “sword”.
This refers to the point made before: the poem is closely knitted to reinforce the tight structure.
Imagery of Give by Simon Armitage
Words and phrases used suggest a relationship between the speaker and his audience, like “dear”.
The phrases also suggest the discomfort of that relationship: “to make a scene” has negative connotations, as does the idea of someone begging on their knees.
Direct address to the second person “you”, meaning both the reader and a character in the poem (who does specific things such as giving a cup of tea.)
It makes the poem more immediate for the reader, and makes them think about their own reactions when asked for money in the street.
The words “frankincense” and “myrrh” link to the “gold” in the stanza before: they are references to gifts brought by the three Wise Men to the infant Jesus.
They were chosen at the time because of their rarity and preciousness - here they are used to put the requests of the homeless narrator into perspective.
The narrator only wants “change”, but that word is ambiguous - small coins or a command to the audience: “just change”
The romantic image of “under the stars” becomes paradoxical (conflicting) when juxtaposed with being “on the street”, but that contributes to the ambiguous tone of the poem, and its attempts to challenge our preconceptions of homelessness.
At first glance the images in the third stanza seem fantastical - “swallow swords”, “eat fire” - but they are busking activities that people perform on the street to encourage passers-by to give them money.
The final activity, “escape from locks and chains”, does not seem to be so much better than the things he will do for silver, but it could be read metaphorically - that gold would enable him to escape the prison of homelessness.
Metaphorical - trapped by society/being poor?
Attitudes, ideas and themes of Give by Simon Armitage
The tone of the poem is challenging: it gives voice to a member of a group that is usually silenced or unheard: the homeless.
It’s quite sarcastic in places - “it’s not as if I’m holding out/for frankincense” - helping the reader to consider why the poet is writing about this subject.
The sarcasm of the sentence “that’s big of you” in the last stanza jolts because it replaces what we assume would be gratitude.
When you think about how little a cup of tea costs, and the difference in the life of the narrator to the audience, the irony of the “big” makes us ashamed.
Armitage uses these devices, along with the intimacy of the “dear” to point out that we, as the public, are really much closer to the homeless than we like to think as well as being responsible for them.
The references to frankincense and myrrh suggest a religious aspect to this poem: is Armitage comparing today’s homeless to the infant Jesus who was also born homeless (in a manger)?
The poem aims to disturb us from our normal complacent attitudes about homelessness; even the poem’s title is an imperative, telling us what to do.
Example comparisons to Give by Simon Armitage
Les Grands Seigneurs:
- The poems both use fantastical and dramatic images - of sword swallowing in Give and knights and castles in Les Grands Seigneurs.
- Each has an ironic tone, and features some black humour.
- Give is much more challenging to the reader and less accepting of the status quo.
Singh Song!:
- Both poems directly address the reader, speaking in the first person, although only Give uses the second person “you”.
- There is a challenge to society’s stereotypical perceptions in both poems.
- Both poems use repeated sentence structures - do they create the same effect?
How is the character created in Give?
Although the character is homeless, he uses romantic imagery to describe his situation, suggesting he is not typical.
The direct address and use of the word “dear” show a confident and challenging persona.
His voice is quite an educated one, through making reference to frankincense and myrrh.
The list of different things he will do for coppers, silver and gold show a talented performer.
There is a sarcastic tone in the last stanza, which helps create a character who challenges expectations of gratitude for charity.
