The Clown's wife

About my husband, the clown,

 What could I say?

On stage, he’s a different person.

Up there he’s a king on a throne,

But at home you should hear him moan. 

The moment he walks through that door

 without that red nose and them funny clothes,

 he seems to have the world on his shoulder.

 I do me best to cheer him up, poor soul.

I juggle with eggs, I turn cartwheels,

I tell jokes, I do me latest card trick,

I even have a borrow of his red nose.

  But he doesn’t say exactly how he feels,

Doesn’t say what’s bothering him inside.

 Just sits there saying almost to himself:

  ‘ O life, ah life,

what would I do without this clown of a wife?’ 

Johnson Agard:

He was born in 1949, in Guyana, south America.  He studied English, French and Latin. He has seen the cultural differences, racial discrimination and inequalities around him.  One can feel the themes of mythology, ethnicity and morality in his works.   Agard has won Paul Hamlyn award for poetry in 1997, he was selected for queen’s Gold Medal for poetry. He is a poet, playwright, and short story writer. Among his work The Clown’s wife is an outstanding work which deals with the theme of life of a Clown. 

 Analysis of the poem

Johnson Agard in his Poem “The Clown’s wife” brings out the theme of life, the real life of a Clown, the other side of a Clown. The real life of the clown is portrayed through the eyes of his wife.  The poem clearly shows the difference between the smiling appearance and his real face.  He lives with two faces, his public life and private life. The onlooker of his show may think that he lives in a happiness for he always comes with a smiling face on the stage to perform and make all happy. But in real life his happiness is a faraway dream.  His wife says he is a “king on a throne” but at home he moans and cries and looks dull.  The world doesn’t know the pitiful condition of the man who wears a clown face. They think he is a happy man who makes all happy.

As a wife she feels sorry for him and she tries to make him cheerful.  She turns herself into a clown to make her husband smile, she tries in all possible ways by doing tricks and jokes to make him smile.  But he cannot laugh as there is something within which give a intense pain, he doesn’t share the reason for his strange pain and grief.  Instead of sharing he talks to himself and say “O life, ah life what would I do with this clown of a wife?”

 It’s a difficult task to make others happy and laugh when you are crying within you with pain.  Though he entertains others, he has many grievances which others cannot understand.  It is assumed the he is sad due to a low salary for his work.  His wife is a special person who does her best to cheer him up at home.  She is the greatest comfort for the clown is suffering with pain.   The life of the clown gives a valuable message that what we see is not always the true picture of every human.  Appearance and the reality are two different sides of the humans.

Poetical techniques

 The poem consists of six stanzas.  It is written in irregular verse form.

1st verse – 2 lines

 2nd verse – 3 lines 

3rd verse – 3 lines 

4th verse – 4 lines 

5th verse – 3 lines 

 6th verse – 2 lines

The poem flows in a contradictory way.  The behavior of the clown and his wife differ and it is paradoxical. Paradoxical means a statement or idea that seems to contradict itself and is often confusing; they are used in literature to show the complexity of life.  the clown is shown with two different faces and two different natures of the clown, he is a symbol of two different natures of human as happiness and sadness.

A Metaphor is a figure of speech that makes an implicit, implied, or hidden comparison between two things that are unrelated, but which share some common characteristics. Metaphor is used in “king on a throne” he is compared to a king.  The clown is a kind on stage as he could perform well and make all happy and also as a husband, he is the king to his wife.

It is worth noticing Johnson Agard’s employment of Irony when the clown is portrayed as a poor soul. irony as a literary device is a situation in which there is a contrast between expectation and reality, but the clown’s performances are quite rich to make all happy.  He gives laughter to the others on the stage but he himself is unhappy and his wife has to cheer him up at home. 

The use of Exclamations such as “oh - ah” suggest his unhappiness and sadness.  The poet uses two different sets of words to show the two different faces of the clown. The clown who performs well on the stage to make all happy the poet uses words such as “King on a throne”, “juggle with eggs”, “turncart wheels”, “funny clothes”, “red nose”.   The poet creates humor when he describes the life of the clown’s wife who tries to make the clown laugh.

The title suggests the wife’s role as a wife of a clown. The public admire the clown for his best performance. But his wife sees him at home as a husband who hides his grief and cries inside.  There are two parallel actions in the poem where the man turns into a clown to make others laugh as the wife turns into a clown to make her husband laugh at home.  At home he is the spectator and his wife is the clown, it is quite ironical to make the situation fun and to think.

John Agard describes the poem to show the real nature of the human personality. The clown who makes jokes to make others laugh can not enjoy jokes by himself as his life is not a joke.  In real life he is not a joker or clown but a responsible man who thinks about the reality of the world.  He must think about the daily routines of life.  The Clown is defined as a “Poor soul” by the poet because he is not happy at home.  John Agard questions the reality of the human society.   It ends with a sad note that real life and professional life differ.

Thank you