The Clown’s Wife by John Agard

It explores the theme of duality through a wife speaking about her clown husband and herself.

‘The Clown’s Wife’ by John Agard is a free-verse poem of seventeen lines. It tells of the professional and personal sides of a clown’s
life. In the poem, the clown’s wife is the speaker. She uses colloquial language to give the reader a picture of her husband’s life. There
are two sides to him: the clown and the husband. The poem offers a contrast to these sides and gives us a peek behind the ‘red nose.’
Furthermore, as the title suggests, the poem introduces us to the clown’s wife. We get a picture of her as well. So, not only do we
learn about the clown, but we also discover information about his wife.

Summary

‘The Clown’s Wife’ by John Agard tells the story of a clown through his wife’s eyes, giving the reader a glimpse of their lives.
In the poem, the wife speaks of her clown husband. She shows the duality between his professional life and his personal life.
However, she also tells us about herself. She is not just a passive observer relating information about her husband. No, she is an
active participant in the story being told. The wife acts to cheer up her clown husband, taking on the role of a clown herself. So, there
is an element of role reversal at play here.

Theme

Duality is the main theme in ‘The Clown’s Wife’ by John Agard. This duality relates to the clown’s personal and professional life. He
acts one way at work and another at home. The duality is signaled early in the poem. In the third line, for instance, the wife tells us
that her husband is a different person on stage. So, the speaker immediately draws our attention to the different sides of her
husband. Therefore, we are invited to view duality as important to the poem. Moreover, the wife tells us how the clown acts at
home, which is completely opposite to our sense of a clown’s actions. Again, this points us to think about duality.

Detailed Analysis

In the detailed analysis, let us split the poem up and look at two lines at a time.

Lines 1-2
Agard does something interesting with the first two lines. Therefore, we should study these lines in full:
About my husband, the clown, what could I say?

From these lines, we know that the speaker is the wife of a clown. This information coupled with the title points to its importance.
However, our interest here is not exactly with the content of the lines but with how they are arranged. You may notice that the
structure of the question is inverted. That is, the second line would usually come first when asking a question. For example: What
could I say about my husband, the clown? However, the poet changed the structure for a reason. Using inversion here, Agard wants
to draw our attention to something. That something is the inversion of roles between the wife and the clown, a role reversal. As we
continue, you will see how this foreshadowing plays out in the poem. Therefore, it is a good idea to keep the concept of inversion in
mind as you read the poem.

Lines 3-4
On stage, he’s a different person.

The second and third lines give us information about the clown. We discover that ‘on stage, he’s a different person.’ That positions us
to think of the duality previously mentioned. Being a different person on stage points to a dual existence. Furthermore, the fourth line
cements this idea. We learn that on stage ‘he’s a king on a throne,’ which again brings duality to mind. Because the wife draws
attention to his on-stage exploits, she also highlights a contrast when he is not on stage. Here, she does not have to mention this
contrast explicitly because the reader can infer it. However, if there were any doubt, she makes it clear in the next lines.

Lines 5-6
but at home you should hear him moan.

The fifth and sixth lines spell out the contrast for us. He’s a king on stage, but he moans when he gets home. Again, we have this
duality, the juxtaposition between his professional life and his personal life. We have a picture of the clown making people laugh.
However, he is miserable when he gets home. It is almost like a switch goes off when ‘he walks through that door.’ The clown is left
behind to be replaced by the husband.

Lines 7-8
Let us look at these two lines in full to get a better picture of the contrast between the professional and the personal aspects of the
clown’s life.without that red nose and them funny clothes, he seems to have the world on his shoulders.
So, the seventh line points to the transformation, the change from the clown to the husband, from the professional to the personal.
Shed of his ‘red nose’ and ‘funny clothes’ he is just a husband with ‘the world on his shoulders.’ These lines work to give us a visual of
the contrast. One can picture the duality, an image of the colorful clown and the dreary husband side-by-side.

Lines 9-10
I do me best to cheer him up, poor soul.

Now the poem begins to focus on the speaker, the wife. You may have noticed that we are at the halfway point in the poem. At this
stage, the switch of focus from the husband to wife is no accident. Therefore, it is safe to say that the poet wants us to think of duality
again. The wife speaks of her husband for the first half of the poem, and now she speaks of herself. She does her best to cheer him
up, juggling with eggs and doing cartwheels. Think back to the first two lines, to the inversion we identified, the role reversal. Now,
this is playing out in the poem. The wife has become the clown to cheer up her husband.

Lines 11-12
I tell jokes, I do me latest card trick,

These two lines continue with the wife acting like a clown. She tells jokes and does card tricks for him. Moreover, she even borrows
his red nose. This shows us that she has really transformed into a clown. Therefore, she exhibits a duality as well. She is both wife and
clown, just as he is husband and clown. The next lines turn the focus back onto the husband.

Lines 13-14
But he doesn’t say exactly how he feels,

From these two lines, we learn that the husband does not ‘say exactly how he feels.’ Also, he does not ‘say what’s bothering him
inside.’ Let us think about this for a moment to identify the contrast. When we picture a clown, we picture exhibition. Clowns are
outgoing and expressive. They are extraverted. Now picture the husband not expressing his feelings, keeping everything inside. The
husband is introverted. Again, this points to contrast, to duality. There is a clear juxtaposition between the professional and the
personal aspects of his life.

Lines 15-17

The poem finishes on a light-hearted note. Let us view the last three lines in full, where the husband:
Just sits there saying almost to himself:

‘O life, ah life,
what would I do without this clown of a wife?’

The husband identifies the wife as a clown, further alluding to the role reversal previously discussed. Also, the reference to life not
once but twice further solidifies the theme of duality. Therefore, we can say with some certainty that duality is the main theme of the
poem. Furthermore, the light-hearted ending offers hope. Life is not simple, not one-dimensional, and we will have contrasting
feelings. However, duality suggests that bad feelings are accompanied by good ones. Although the husband feels down when he is
not acting the clown, he appreciates his wife. She makes things better. His words at the end acknowledge that he could not be
without her.

FAQs
What is the meaning of ‘The Clown’s Wife’ by John Agard?
The meaning of ‘The Clown’s Wife’ by John Agard is that everything is not what it seems. There are always two sides to everything. In
the poem, the clown is a different person on stage. This contrasts with how he is at home. He is extraverted on stage and introverted
at home. Therefore, this points us to think that everything is not what it seems.

Where was John Agard born?

John Agard was born in British Guiana (now Guyana) on 21 June 1949. Guyana is a country in South America, situated east of
Venezuela. Agard was born in the coastal city of Georgetown, the capital of Guyana.

Did John Agard write more famous poems like ‘The Clown’s Wife‘?
Yes, John Agard wrote several famous poems. His work forms part of the English GCSE syllabus, which is taught to British high school
students aged 14-16. His poems ‘Half Caste’ and ‘Checking Out Me History’ have featured in the AQA English GCSE anthology since
2002.