The Clown Punk

Simon Armitage

Learning Objectives (AQA)

AO1: respond to texts critically and imaginatively, select and evaluate textual detail to illustrate and support interpretations.

AO2: explain how language, structure and form contribute to writers’ presentation of ideas, themes and settings.

Write 3 words or phrases to describe the 2 pictures below. Share your ideas with a partner.

What words would you use to describe someone who is homeless?

The Clown Punk Driving home through the shonky side of town,Three times out of ten you’ll see the town clown,Like a basket of washing that got upAnd walked, towing a dog on a rope. But Don’t laugh: every pixel of that man’s skinIs shot through with indelible ink:As he steps out at the traffic lights,Think what he’ll look like in thirty years’ time – The deflated face and shrunken scalpStill daubed with the sad tattoos of high punk.You kids in the back seat who wince and screamWhen he slathers his daft mush on the windscreen, Remember the clown punk with his dyed brain, Then picture windscreen wipers, and let it rain. 

Simon Armitage

The Clown Punk Driving home through the shonky side of town, three times out of ten you’ll see the town

clown, like a basket of washing that got up and walked, towing a dog on a rope. But

Sounds derogatory

Shonky = rundown

simileVerbs of movement

Connective at end of stanza

don’t laugh: every pixel of that man’s skin is shot through with indelible ink; as he steps out at the traffic lights, think what he’ll look like in thirty years’ time -

Imperative verb

Dash at end of stanza

the deflated face and shrunken scalp, still daubed with the sad tattoos of high punk. You kids in the back seat who wince and

scream when he slathers his daft mush on the

windscreen,

remember the clown punk with his dyed brain, then picture windscreen wipers, and let it rain.

Mush = face

Alliteration and assonance

Rhyming couplet

Re-read the poem and think about these questions.

What sort of character is the Clown Punk?

What is his status in Stanza 1?

How do the children react to the Clown Punk?

Why does the narrator want the children to remember the Clown Punk?

Rhyme and Rhythm The poem is written as a sonnet – 14

lines traditionally written in iambic pentameter.

Iambic pentameter – 10 syllables per line, alternately unstressed and stressed

Dri-ving home through the shon-ky side of town

Unstressed syllablesin italics

Stressed syllables in bold

Re-read the poem and answer the following questions.

Why is the poem written as a sonnet?

Why does the poet use rhyming couplets?

What is the effect of the poet’s use of alliteration and assonance?

What is the effect of the final couplet of the poem?

Think of 3 questions that you would ask either the narrator or the Clown Punk if you met them.

List 3 things that you have learnt about the characters in the poem.

What is the most memorable word, phrase or line from the poem? Why?