About His Person by Simon Armitage: Poem Analysis
The poem itself it a lot alike to a detective story as Armitage forces the reader to try and figure out what is going on. Armitage also forces the readers to make their own judgements on the man described and what has happened to him, to a certain extent.
‘About his person' is the phrase police use when they go through the items found on a dead body.
Armitage uses puns which can also be used as metaphors for the man’s life.
IMPORTANT LINES AND SUGGESTED EXPLANTIONS:
About his person
What we can tell about him as a character
What we can tell about his life
What he's got on his body
A final demand
Could be from a company. This might suggest the man was running very low on money
Or it could be a letter he was going to send, demanding some end
Or it could be a letter from another person in the story, demanding something of the man
Planted there like a spray carnation
Might be suspicious as if this is a set up
Could be a metaphor for love or marriage
Could be the description of a suicide note
That was everything
That was the all he had on his body
What he's got on his body
The poem is written in couplets, in 2 line stanzas in which the first and second line rhyme. The first four rhymes are not full; they are half rhymes. This creates an off key feeling meaning that something isn’t quite right.
The subject of this poem in my opinion is how difficult it is to understand other people's lives.It deals with questions of identity. The poem allows the readers to think about what makes us who we are. The poem suggests that it is our actions, our belongings and our desires. The use of puns and the detective element of the poem might encourage us not to take it too seriously. But the subtle suggestions of violence coupled with the last lines make us feel some genuine emotion for this character who has lost love and his life: 'No gold or sliver, but crowning one finger a ring of white unweathered skin. That was everything.' The form of the poem
‘About his person' is the phrase police use when they go through the items found on a dead body.
Armitage uses puns which can also be used as metaphors for the man’s life.
IMPORTANT LINES AND SUGGESTED EXPLANTIONS:
About his person
What we can tell about him as a character
What we can tell about his life
What he's got on his body
A final demand
Could be from a company. This might suggest the man was running very low on money
Or it could be a letter he was going to send, demanding some end
Or it could be a letter from another person in the story, demanding something of the man
Planted there like a spray carnation
Might be suspicious as if this is a set up
Could be a metaphor for love or marriage
Could be the description of a suicide note
That was everything
That was the all he had on his body
What he's got on his body
The poem is written in couplets, in 2 line stanzas in which the first and second line rhyme. The first four rhymes are not full; they are half rhymes. This creates an off key feeling meaning that something isn’t quite right.
The subject of this poem in my opinion is how difficult it is to understand other people's lives.It deals with questions of identity. The poem allows the readers to think about what makes us who we are. The poem suggests that it is our actions, our belongings and our desires. The use of puns and the detective element of the poem might encourage us not to take it too seriously. But the subtle suggestions of violence coupled with the last lines make us feel some genuine emotion for this character who has lost love and his life: 'No gold or sliver, but crowning one finger a ring of white unweathered skin. That was everything.' The form of the poem