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Armitage uses strong images to create a visual picture of the character, comparing him to a "basket of washing".

Adjectives like "deflated", "shrunken" and "sad" all create a sense of a character who is much less than he could be.

The contrasting reactions of the narrator and children to the Clown Punk help to create a sense of his character: the children are afraid, but the narrator is dismissive of his "daft mush".

The Clown Punk is presented as faintly ridiculous: Armitage uses the rhyme of "town clown" to suggest this.

The tattoos go right through to the character's "dyed brain", and the use of surface-art vocabulary throughout the poem suggests that the tattoos are all there is to this man.

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The Clown Punk is the sense of isolation from society.
The first thing that suggest this is the fact that he has been called a punk. A punk is someone who sees themselves different from everything else, this basically means that they cut themselves of from society which is what gives us this sense that he is a man who doesnt want to associate himself with anyone else.

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One thing that we can say about the voice of the poem is that it is the poet talking about the clown punk.

The poet is trying to make himself seem quite superior in comparison to the clown punk. A quote that shows this is when he says "Driving home throught the shonky side of town". Its like he is trying to give a sense that he is far better than anything associated with the clown punk and where he wonders about.

Another quote that shows this is when he says "three times out of ten you'll see the clown town", this is another judgement towards this man and again it seems like the poet is trying to get across that he is far better than any of this, that he is far more superior.

Another thing that could be picked up on is that the poet doesn't actually refer to him by his name which could lead to a sign of disrespect towards this lone man and his dog

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The poem is a sonnet as it has 14 lines. However, this is ironic as sonnets are usually associated with Shakespeare and are normally about love. The irony is shown in the poem as it is not about love at all, as it talks about the clown punk which is not loved as he is an outcast in society.

In the second stanza the poet writes “don’t laugh:”. This is ironic as people are suppose to laugh at clowns. The punctuation “:” is also different as most poems do not have this type of punctuation. This could show that the clown punk is also different just like the poem.

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The poem contains factual information such as “three times out of ten” (line 2), this makes the reader engage more with the poem as it makes the poem and the “clown punk” seem more realistic.

He also uses a simile, “like a basket of washing…” (line 3), which implies that the clown punk is dirty and needs cleaning like dirty clothes. Furthermore it could mean the clown punk morally needs to be clean, for example it could show that the punk needs to change his attitude in society. This could be because punks were known to have wild appearances such as tattoos and coloured hair, they were also known to cause trouble.

Simon Armitage also writes “slathers his daft mush” (line 12), this gives the impression that the poets view of the clown punk is negative. However the clown punk doesn’t criticize the clown punk showing that he wants the reader to form their own opinion. The word “slathers” gives the impression that the clown punk is quite creepy and drags his feet when he walks. The word “daft” could show the writers view of the clown punk. It implies that Armitage thinks that the clown punk is “daft” or disagrees with his morals.

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Simon Armitage explores and explains the themes, ideas, feelings and attitudes behind 'The Clown Punk' and considers the language, structure and form of the poem linked to its central ideas. His reading of the poem is combined with visual images and documentary footage of the punk era, alongside an explanation and analysis of some key words and phrases. He considers the ways the poem can be interpreted as an exploration of the effects of the passage of time.

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BBC Bitesize - GCSE English Literature - 'The Clown Punk' by Simon Armitage (analysis)

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Simon Armitage explores and explains the themes, ideas, feelings and attitudes behind 'The Clown Punk' and considers the language, structure and form of the poem linked to its central ideas. His reading of the poem is combined with visual images and documentary footage of the punk era, alongside an explanation and analysis of some key words and phrases.

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Simon Armitage

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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

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A secondary school revision resource for GCSE English Literature about the context, language and ideas in Simon Armitage's Clown Punk

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How is the character presented in The Clown Punk?

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Horse Whisperer:

Both poems bring us face to face with an unusual character and let us learn something about them.

There is a focus on physical detail in both poems - although in Horse Whisperer it is about horses, rather than a human character.

There is the suggestion of a change over time, in the main characters of both poems.

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*Frightening
*Comic
*Tone
*Meaning
*Power
*Insecurity

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The poem describes an encounter with the eponymous Clown Punk, a tattooed, slightly tragic character who presses his face against the windscreen of the narrator's car when it stops at traffic lights, frightening the children sitting in the back seat.