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Highlight the examples of the following techniques on your copy of the poem. Write
brief annotations explaining the effects the writer creates by using each technique.
Caesura
Enjambement
End-stopped line
Rhyme
Internal rhyme (rhyme which occurs in the middle of a line rather than at the end)
Pararhyme
Alliteration
What happens?
An accomplished thief, used to breaking into people's houses – and apparently has
never been caught.
Ignores people's feelings. Enjoys knowing that her actions provoke a response.
Enjoys leaving a mess.
Selfish. Unconcerned about the effect the actions have on others.
Acts out of boredom. Does not need the things that are stolen – it just passes the
time.
Casual attitude towards theft suggested by the use of colloquial language and
slang.
Perhaps the most disturbing aspect is the reason why s/he chose to steal the
snowman. S/he is lonely and feels his/her brain has iced over: there is no place
for human warmth there now.
Language
Many of the stolen items are associated with creativity, but the thief is
unable to create.
Cannot play the guitar she stole.
Stole a bust of Shakespeare only to sell it on.
Most bizarrely, a snowman was stolen rather than make his or her own.
Then s/he ruined it.
Seems that s/he only knows how to destroy.
Alliteration links and emphasises the association of ideas.
Enjambement suggests the pattern of natural speech but also has a dramatic
role in the poem. 'I took a run/ and booted him' mimics how s/he planned a
run up, paused, then kicked the snowman. The pause after 'might' in 'thought
I might/learn to play' hints that it was never a real intention.
Imagery
Metaphor, 'My breath ripped out/in rags' explains the physical effort of
destroying the snowman. Rags are torn pieces of cloth; this image in a
description of an act of destruction focuses on 'rags' that are themselves
something destroyed.
Snowman could be a symbol for the speaker. Snowman is seen as a 'mate', the
speaker almost admitting that they feel closer to the snowman than to any
real person. The snowman is lonely; the speaker leads a solitary life and is
apparently friendless.
The snowman is cold; the speaker has a 'slice of ice' in his/her brain and
stands 'alone amongst lumps of snow'.
The snowman is finally destroyed – will the speaker's actions ultimately be
self-destructive?
Ideas to consider
The thief is honest, admitting what s/he has done and why, 'boredom'.
Confident enough to speak directly to the interviewer
We understand what she is saying on a literal basis, but we cannot understand
why s/he feels so alienated from society and acts as she does.
Should we sympathise with the speaker? Confident and boastful, 'sometimes I
steal things I don't need'. Also vulnerable, 'sick of the world'
S/he is unable or lacks the patience to succeed or gain pleasure in the ways
most of us do, such as by making our own snowman or learning to play the
guitar.
Hitcher - What happens?
A man disaffected with his work and feeling bored, decides on the spur of the
moment to do something different.
He drives around aimlessly, picks up a hitchhiker in Leeds and then,
apparently unprovoked, attacks the man with a steering wheel lock and
pushes him out of the moving car.
The narrator has no regrets about his actions.
Structure
Both men are ‘hitchers’ We cannot be sure which man is the ‘Hitcher’ of the
title.
Why does the narrator attack the hitchhiker? Not premeditated. Perhaps it is
because the hitcher has the freedom he wishes he himself could have.
Dark humour. Is Armitage commenting on meaningless violence in our society
today.