1. Poetry Across Time: Character and voice
Key
Language: connotation, imagery, metaphor, simile
Structure and form: stanzas, type, patterns, contrast, juxtaposition
Poetic methods: alliteration, caesura, assonance, rhythm, rhyme
Character and voice: who is speaking and to whom? Tone of voice
Links: comparisons to other speakers, methods and themes
Oxymoron used to show how people
see him as a ridiculous figure.
Simile implies that he Alliteration and sibilance –
is dressed emphasises menacing area.
eccentrically and to
The Clown Punk
them looks unkempt
and dishevelled. Driving home through the shonky side of town, Assonance/rhyme
emphasises how
three times out of then you’ll see the town clown
they seem him as a
like a basket of washing that got up joke and something
Imperatives have the and walked, towing a dog on a rope. But amusing.
tone of a lesson – he
serves as a reminder don’t laugh: every pixel of that man’s skin Highlights the
and example of how not permanency of the
is shot through with indelible ink;
to behave/dress decisions made in
as he steps out at the traffic lights, youth.
according to parents.
think what he’ll look like in thirty years’ time –
Mirrors deflated
the deflated face and shrunken scalp ideals and ambitions
As the rain washes still daubed with the sad tattoos of high punk. or dreams he once
the suds away, so you kids in the back seat who wince and scream had.
too has the when he slathers his daft mush on the windscreen,
significance and
worth of the punk Reflects the
diminished when remember the clown punk with his dyed brain, clouded judgment
people judge him. then picture the windscreen wipers, and let it rain. of the ‘punk’ and
ridicules his
decisions –
metaphor.
Interpretations of the poem:
 A comment on the prejudice in society.
 A portrayal of a piteous and lonely man,
 A lesson about how your decisions in life affect you.