With a similar apathetic outlook, ‘Robinson’s Life Sentence’ (Kid 56) explores the monotony of everyday life. Immediately the title of the poem alludes to the tedium and inescapable nature of life. In an interview with The Independent newspaper, Simon Armitage admitted to ‘“a general feeling that life itself is meaningless – that there is no big scheme of things”’ (Knight 2002) and ‘Robinson’s Life Sentence’ is a true reflection of this sentiment. ‘Sentence’, though, brings an image of something that will end, something that will eventually terminate, and to some extent this is true; of course life will end for everyone. The poem, however, has a more cyclical notion. It ends of the same two words as it begins; ‘Rise early’ and in fact the twenty-four line poem is all one sentence, without a break. This reflects the non-stop rush of modern life; there is not even time to take a breath. As a structure, ‘Robinson’s Life Sentence’ is uncomplicated because of this continual flow of events which recur over and over again. The lines, however, are of varying length to reflect the fact that life is not always organised and structured like a poem that has had thought and planning put into it; there is not always time to stop, think and prepare. In this instance, the asyndeton throughout the entire poem makes it flow quickly, the reader picks up pace through the poem; ‘the results, / the notices, zip up, step out’ (Kid 56:5-6), imitating the non-stop nature of life.
The Robinson poems, as they are known, were inspired by Weldon Kees, an American poet and critic who disappeared in 1955. He left behind an abandoned car with the keys still in the ignition on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. It is thought that he jumped from the bridge, committing suicide. Kees wrote four poems about a character called Robinson, characterised by his absence throughout them. Robinson only appears in one of the four, and only then very briefly. Kees’ poems are thought to have been somewhat prophetic of his own end. Armitage continues these poems about Robinson, the disheartened, disillusioned man, in his anthology Kid.
‘Robinson’s Resignation’ (Kid 84) is another poem which looks at the repetitiveness of a regular nine-to-five routine life. Robinson claims he is ‘done with this thing called work’ (Kid 84:1) and that this is his ‘final word. Nothing will follow’ (Kid 84:22). The stanzas are made of lines of seven, an unusual number, difficult to work rhyme around and not balanced on the page. Armitage finishes on a single line, again an unusual structure, but in this case the simple ending is most effective. Robinson lays down his ‘paper-clips and staples’ (Kid 84:2) and finally chooses to make a stand against ‘the business of work’ (Kid 84:8). The concluding decisive line helps to reiterate this sentiment. Though this poem is atypical of Armitage’s style, his message is still conveyed as efficiently.
Killing Time also has an unusual structure. It chops and changes from quatrains to more open style verse and back again frequently throughout it’s thousand lines. The rhyme is also inconsistent; the more comical sequences having more rhyme than the serious. Armitage wrote Killing Time for the millennium, reflecting on the year 1999. Within it are many of the news stories that took place in that year, some better known than others, and often not for the right reasons. The poem is introduced by a prologue:
A man strolls past the town hall
wearing a sandwich-bard for a coat,
and it ain’t for the next closing-down sale,
or the time of the next coach,
and it ain’t for the price of a fake tan,
or bringing the government down,
or happy hour, or two-for-one,
or the circus coming to town,
or a secret truth that God knows,
or the end of the world being nigh,
it says NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS,
but it don’t say why. (Killing Time Prologue : 1-12)
Armitage italicises the prologue, to make it stand out from the rest of the poem, and to try and give the reader some idea of what they are about to read, or hear. By using informal, colloquial words, such as ‘ain’t’ and ‘don’t’, it is as if Armitage is giving this section of the poem a different voice, possibly his own. The remainder of the poem is written in full English, as if being read by someone with Received Pronunciation, a newsreader perhaps? Although this is a simple technique to use, it is effective in making the reader differentiate between the voices in the poem, and to notice the way in which the poem being read. In the broadcasted version of Killing Time, the newsreader John Snow was asked to narrate the poem which added a great element of realism (Hill, 2000). As a known figure in society, viewers flicking through channels will have recognised him as a news presenter and so listened to what he was reporting and taken it seriously. It was, of course, Armitage’s poem and achieved just the effect that he had wanted.
Although the language is simple, extended metaphors like flowers substituted for bullets in Armitage’s description of the Columbine High School Massacre, make the reader think more about the stories:
two boys entered the front door of their own high school
and for almost four hours
gave floral tributes to fellow students and members of staff,
beginning with red roses
strew amongst unsuspecting pupils during their lunch hour (Killing Time 22:3-7)
Again, this is a simple technique but Armitage uses it to great effect. The imagery of flowers as a juxtaposition with the bullets saddens the reader and makes them think how different the outcome could have been. Armitage never states exactly the stories that he is writing about, it is up to the reader to decide or try and work out which news story he is referring to.
The majority of the reports are hard-hitting stories, such as the Paddington rail disaster, the nail-bombs in Soho and famine in Africa whilst ‘Sixty-five per cent of all North American people / are now officially obese (Killing Time 29:1-2). Simon Armitage approaches these in a sensitive manner, despite the very simple way they are portrayed. Although it could be argued that this limits the impact that the issues have, the opposite could also be maintained. This reduced style leaves Armitage with the basic details of each news report and in conveying these points only, the stories are immediately recognised and the pain of their memory is brought to the forefront of the reader’s mind. He describes the nail bomb which ‘scatters the baggage of one man’s mind / into the public’s brain’ (Killing Time 28:3-4). As an abstract image, this holds little power, but with the realisation and memory of the occurrence, the reader is shocked. With only four lines on this page, it is almost as if Simon Armitage is giving the reader a few moments to remember, mourn again and move onto the next page in their own time.
It must not be forgotten that Simon Armitage was commissioned to write Killing Time and therefore, knowing it would be broadcast on the first day of the millennium, he must have attempted to ensure that the poem would have the hardest hitting images possible. As the reader works through the text, trying to unscramble the clues that Armitage has left for them, they recall the stories slowly, due to the author’s evasive nature and also a slow memory for the year gone by. When the reader does eventually recall what Armitage is writing about, it brings this story to light once again, almost as if the author is trying to make you relive the past year. No doubt some of the stories will long have been forgotten, and to be reminded of an entire year of saddening news in the space of a mere fifty-two pages is perhaps the strongest technique that Armitage employs.
Killing Time was inspired by Louis MacNeice’s Autumn Journal in which he stated that ‘poetry, in my opinion, must be honest before anything else and I refuse to be “objective” or clear-cut at the cost of honesty’(1939 : Introduction). This is reflected clearly in Armitage’s millennium poem and his other works. By describing social issues very simply, with uncomplicated language and little diversions, Armitage brings them to the forefront of the reader’s mind, which will associate with the images they recall from when the news stories broke. ‘His work bridges the often yawning gap between seriousness and inaccessibility’ (Bond 2007)The complexity of the issues is not undermined by this, only heightened. Perhaps therefore, the most powerful technique that Simon Armitage uses is not his command of language, or his satirical style, but simply the ability to engage with the truth, display unrelenting honesty and invoke the most powerful images with the smallest allusion. The truth, therefore, is more powerful that any art form and ‘the ordinary can be miraculous’ (Bond 2007).
Bibliography
Armitage, S., 1992. Kid. London : Faber& Faber
Armitage, S., 1999. Killing Time. London : Faber & Faber
Bond, C., 2007. ‘Armitage Finds his Inspiration in “a Little Paradise”’ Yorkshire Post [internet] 14 Sept. Available at: [Accessed: 16 January 2008]
Hill, B. (Director) 2000. Killing Time: The Millennium Poem [Television Broadcast]. London:BBC
Knight, S., 2002. ‘Books: Mean, Moody and still Magnificent’ The Independent [internet] 25 August. Available at: [Accessed: 16 January 2008)
MacNeice, L., 1939. Autumn Journal. London : Faber & Faber
Further references to the poems will be made in this format: ( Anthology Page Number : Line Number)
