This presentation describes the poem Clown's wife by Johnson Agard and gives the smart analysis

2. 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?’

3. JOHNSON AGARD
• PLAYWRIGHT, POET, SHORT-STORY AND CHILDREN'S WRITER .
• JOHN AGARD WAS BORN ON 21 JUNE 1949 IN BRITISH GUIANA.
• HE WORKED FOR THE GUYANA SUNDAY CHRONICLE NEWSPAPER AS
SUB-EDITOR AND FEATURE WRITER BEFORE MOVING TO ENGLAND IN
1977.
• IN 1993 HE WAS APPOINTED WRITER IN RESIDENCE AT THE SOUTH
BANK CENTRE, LONDON, AND BECAME POET IN RESIDENCE AT THE BBC
IN LONDON
• AN APPOINTMENT CREATED AS PART OF A SCHEME RUN BY THE
POETRY SOCIETY IN LONDON.
• HE ALSO PLAYED A KEY ROLE IN THE 'WINDRUSH' SEASON OF
PROGRAMMES IN 1998
• . HE WON THE PAUL HAMLYN AWARD FOR POETRY IN 1997 AND HAS
TRAVELLED EXTENSIVELY THROUGHOUT THE WORLD PERFORMING HIS
POETRY.
• JOHN AGARD LIVES IN SOUTH-EAST ENGLAND.

5. The poem consist of six stanzas.
It is in an irregular versification form.
The format of the poem with this irregularities
coinside with the main character of the episode
clown.
The story flows in a contradictory way.
The behaviour of the two character the clown
and his wife is paradoxical.
The poet really deals with the two images of the
clown .He builds up the visual imagery of the
clown takin his appearance.
Metaphor: King on a throne
It is quiet ironic and sacarstic to take the clown
as poor soul.

6. In the last stanza the poet presents the climax
of this confict .It is a matter of life how is
become complex.
The image create of the clown is sympathetic
for the hard word he does during his
performance.
The poet uses two different sets of word to cast
the two different images of the clown first to
build up the image of the real clown on the
stage .He uses words phrases such as ‘different
person’ ,’king on a throne’ ,juggle with eggs
,turncart wheels , funny clothes,red nose
 The poet really creates much farce or
humour when he describes how clown’s wife
tries to perform the role of the clown.
juggle with eggs, I turn cartwheels,

8. The title of the poem suggest that more
consideration has been roamed up towards the
clown’s wife.
The public admire him as an actor or performer
on the stage. But his wife sees him at home as
a husband.
these two situation have been taken parallel in
the poem
When he acts on the stage he become the
cynosure of everyone.
There at home, the clown is dramatically turn
out be the spectator and his wife take the role
of the clown. This is really ironic and it makes
fun and mock.
According to his profession he should be

9. The narrator describe ‘the real nature’ of clown
in the course of the poem.
It is here the narrator talks or revels the true
nature of this personality.
He tries to attract the audience towards him
only ,he changes his appearance into a funny
man.
When he comes to his real life he cannot crack
jokes. The life is not a joke for him .He feels that
there he is not a clown but a responsible man
and he should deal with the family matters
when he is at home.
The clown is defined as ‘poor soul’ by the
narrator because the clown becomes very
miserable when he is at home

10. The poet deals with the difference between
appearance and the reality and the suffering
of the poor through the poem clown’s wife.
As the theme of the poem John Agard
questions the reality of the human society.
Some other themes…
 Poverty is the reason for the sadness.
 Real life and professional life have many differences.

11. A.APHIRAM
B.NAREN
R.VERROSHAN
A.HARISHANTH (PRESENTER)