A Critical Appreciation of 'Cataract Operation', a Poem by Simon Armitage.

The next line in the poem- 'the cancan of a ra ra skirt'- is just as vibrant a desription. What is really happening is that a skirt, on the washing line, is caught in the breeze and as it waves back and forth it resembles the movements of the skirt of a cancan dancer. This line again uses powerful imagery to bring the skirt to life. I think the poet sees the skirt as that of a cancan dancer, not just any dancer, because of the excitement and the rush of the cancan dance itself. This word, like 'pantomime', has the effect of bringing to mind extremely animated images.

The seventh stanza tells of 'the monkey business of a shirt pegged only by its sleeve'. I think that the phrase 'monkey business' is used in the same way as 'turns tail' and 'pillar to post'; it is a familiar saying but is also relevant to what is taking place. The shirt is pegged to the washing line by only one sleeve, in the same way as a monkey hangs from a tree by one arm. 'monkey business' is often used to refer to something someone has done that is cheeky or mischievous, so this phrase brings to mind an image of the shirt playing around on the washing line. This phrase implies the shirt is actually doing something, which we know to be impossible because it is an inanimate object. Simon Armitage uses devices such as this to bring simple objects to life, and that is maybe one way in which a poet's view of the world is different to that of a ordinary person's; everyday, lifeless objects seem to be alive, they seem to be moving, and with these object's new existence comes a deeper meaning.

'the cheerio of a handkerchief' is like the shirt; it is pegged to the washing line and in the breeze it appears to be waving goodbye. This could be referring to the poet 'waving goodbye' to ordinary sight, or, as the next line is 'I drop the blind', he could be leaving his new perception of the world. I think the dropping of the blind is a metaphor for the poet reverting to seeing things as they appear to everyone else. The word 'blind' is ambiguous because it can be taken to mean a blind in a window, as it would appear to mean in this stanza, or it can mean the loss of sight. This is bringing the whole poem back to the title, to this issue of sight and perception. But before he drops the blind, or returns to normality, the poet sees 'a company of half a dozen hens struts through the gate, looks around the yard for a contact lens.' That is how the poem ends. The word 'struts' gives the impression of confidence, or even arrogance. The hens are pecking the ground for food, but to Simon Armitage they seem to be looking for a contact lens. They are striving to see more clearly and perhaps this is a metaphor for how the poet feels. He could consider himself to be, metaphorically speaking, looking for a contact lens to improve his vision, or his understanding of the world. The 'contact lens', and the fact that the hens are searching for this contact lens, also has the effect of tying up the poem with this impression of a lack of sight, and this is why I believe that the poet is 'waving goodbye' to his special discernment of the world and 'drop(ping) the blind on it. The mention of the contact lens also leaves me with another impression; it forces me to ask myself whether I should follow the title of the poem and assume that the poet has had the obstruction removed, like a cataract operation, and that has enabled him to see things differently, or whether I should follow the last stanza of the poem and think that the poet inserted a 'contact lens' and that gave him his new perception. If the poet had the impediment removed, then we can assume that the ability to look at things in a more profound way is innate to all of us, we just can't access it. But if the poet feels as if he has added some outside entity to himself in order to gain this new vision then we can only suppose that poets are alone in having the ability to do so. I think this contradiction within the poem is designed to parallel the contradiction that many people would say exists when you see a pigeon not spreading his tail feathers, but offering you a card, 'Any card'.

'Cataract Operation' is written in couplets, and I think this is to emphasise how, on the one hand, you can view things in a mundane way or, on the other hand you can have a much more exciting and fulfilling approach to life and the world. The rhythm of the poem is iambic. The poet might have used this rhythm because it sounds most natural and this poem is about breaking through the confines of our natural sight. There is enjambment from lines eight to fourteen of the poem, where only commas divide the lines. I think this unbroken stretch of the poem is mirroring the unbroken stretch of the washing line that these lines are talking about. This has the effect of creating an impression of continuity which adds to the force of the image of the washing line.

On the surface 'Cataract Operation' there appears to be only a few of many of the literary implements that usually feature in poems; but if we look closer there are a few rhymes, some assonance and some alliteration buried. This perhaps mirrors how on the surface we see things as they are but if we look deeper we can find this ability to see things differently, the sight the poet has found. It could also be mirroring how when someone first looks at a handkerchief on the washing line it appears to be just blowing in the breeze, but if that person studies it, it can slowly take on the appearance of waving goodbye. The fact that there is no uniform rhyme scheme means that the poet is not tied. He is free to express what he will, and put the stresses on the concepts and ideas within the poem that he believes to be the most important. This freedom of expression could perhaps reflect what the poet is feeling; he has gained his 'poet's sight' and with it a greater sense of freedom.

There is an internal rhyme in the second stanza between 'yard' and 'card'. There is assonance between the last word in line eight, 'breeze', and the last word in line twelve, 'sleeve'. There is a rhyme between the word 'skirt' in line ten and the word 'shirt' in line eleven. There is also a rhyme between 'hens' in line seventeen and 'lens' in line twenty. Some alliteration occurs in 'turns tail' and 'pillar to post, a pantomime'. The internal rhyme could again be reflecting how 'poet's sight' is hidden within us all because the rhyme is almost hidden because it is in the middle of the line. The rhyme between 'skirt' and 'shirt' and the assonance between 'breeze' and 'sleeve' aid the enjambment in that section and add to the effect of continuity. The rhyme and assonance link the fourth, fifth and sixth stanza together and so again parallel the constancy of the washing line. The rhyme between 'hens' and 'lens' could exist to link the ninth and tenth stanzas together. This is logical because both stanzas are describing the same scene and there is enjambment between those four lines, so the poet must have wanted it to be smooth and the rhyme continues this effect. The alliteration in 'pillar to post, a pantomime' gives the effect of the washing line because the 'p' is carried through from 'pillar' to 'post' like the washing line which runs between the pillar and the post, linking them.

I think that on the initial reading of 'Cataract Operation', it seems a bit quirky; at first I didn't understand what the poet was saying and I thought the poem was generally bizarre. Then on the second reading, the meaning begins to become clear, I began to understand the message and the relevance of the title to the contents of the poem, which at first evaded me. On the third perusal I understood fully what the poem was discussing and exploring and I could appreciate the meaning of every word. This gradual process, beginning with ignorance and ending with enlightenment, to me emulated the journey of the poet to the gaining of his greater sight. Maybe this was intentional, and the reason that the poem is quite obscure and never explicitly reveals its central theme. Or maybe this process is paralleled with so much in life that the reader cannot fail to identify with the poem in one form or another. If this is the case, then we really have to ask ourselves whether Simon Armitage actually sees a skirt on the washing line doing the cancan, or whether the whole poem is simply a metaphor for something much deeper.