The Clown Punk

• The poem describes a local character - a man who dresses like a punk and walks around with  a dog on the end of a rope. He is covered in tattoos
• As he crosses the road, he presses his face against the cars windscreen - making the children in the back scream
• The poet asks the children to think about what the clown punk will look like in 30 years time

• The voice is the voice of the poet. He could be anyone driving home through town, with his children in the back of the car
• He describes a well known local figure
• He does not give the man a voice or give any details about his character and feelings apart from what he sees in his brief encounter
• According to Armitage, this poem was based on real events. When he stopped at traffic lights the man he describes pressed his face against the windscreen. He does not know what happens to the clown punk

The outsider and soceity

• The clown punk is on the edge of the town's soceit
• He is seen in the rough part of town - he dresses oddly and acts oddly
• The poeta and his family are conventional and safe in the car

Time

• He asks his children to think about the future of the clown punk
• He speculates on what he will look like when he is old
• What once was fashionable is now frightening, pathetic and odd

• The poem is written in first persona - the poet is part of the poem
• At first he addresses the reader/ anyone who might drive through his home town. He seems to be giving us advice/ warning about the character
• Later he addresses his children/ any children who might react to the clown
• At the start and end of the poem he uses rhyme -town+clown- half rhyme - scream+windscrean - and internal rhyme -town+ clown - together with quite a strong rythem creating a playful, almost childish, tone
• However, in the middle section, the rythem breaks down - the tone is more thoughtful and sad
• The car could be seen as a symbol of modern soceity - the clown punk is outside it and attacks it
• The final ryhming couplet gives a neat ending to the poem, but leaves us with this image of the clown of the windcreen - symbolising the passing of time