The Clown Punk

Simon Armitage

Well, the Room 101 assessments have stopped and now we're onto poetry. At this point in time, we're studying Simon Armitage's poem 'The Clown Punk'.

See, poetry can be like Marmite. You either love it or you hate it. And, whilst I loathe Marmite, I am fond of some poetry. I like Shakespeare, Edgar Allen Poe, Sarah Kay and Christina Rossetti. I think that poets are some of the most incredible people ever and I think it takes a lot of talent to write a real poem (which, after taking part in Slam Jam I've learnt is harder than it looks). So for me this is a pretty fun topic.

A Visual of the Clown Punk

'The Clown Punk' focuses around the message that "you shouldn't judge a book by its cover" and explores the idea of isolation. We looked at how the poet uses writing techniques to gain sympathy from the audience.

One thing I noticed is that throughout the poem powerful imagery is used. An example of this is when it says the Clown Punk was 'towing a dog on a rope.' The use of the word 'towing' suggests that he was literally dragging the dog along, giving the impression that the dog didn't want to follow him. The idea that even man's best friend wants nothing to do with him emphasises the fact that the Clown Punk truly is alone, and that evokes sympathy from the reader. 

I found a useful website that gives you a lot of information on this poem as well on Armitage that will hopefully help you revise for the impending exam!  http://www.helpmewithenglish.co.uk/page_2087187.html

The Poem

Ellen 

Room 101

New topic alert!

This time we're doing a Speaking and Listening assessment on what we'd put in Room 101.

The fantastic website Wikipedia describes Room 101 as 'a place introduced in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. It is a torture chamber in the Ministry of Love in which the Party attempts to subject a prisoner to his or her own worst nightmare, fear or phobia'.

This assessment took on the format of the TV show, which can be found on another miraculous website... Youtube!

My worst nightmare!

The aim of this assessment was to make a persuasive speech that encourages everyone to put your object into Room 101. For me, that object would be party poppers!  My hatred for party poppers is so violent though that it didn't make for presentation material. Instead, I decided to put 'Hipsters' into Room 101. 

We had to analyse persuasive techniques found in spoken language. This includes things like List of Three, metaphors, anecdotes and repetition. We also listened to this famous speech made in 1992 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1I6ljzaY9k) for inspiration. 

If I can give you any advice it's to be confident. Project your voice and know what you're talking about; nothing's worse than making a speech about the illegal capture of narwhals when as far as you're concerned they're just underwater unicorns. 

Ellen