Gooseberry Season

Gooseberry Season

By Simon Armitage

Which reminds me. He appeared
at noon, asking for water. He’d walked from town
after losing his job, leaving me a note for his wife and his brother
and locking his dog in the coal bunker.
We made him a bed

and he slept till Monday.
A week went by and he hung up his coat.
Then a month, and not a stroke of work, a word of thanks,
a farthing of rent or a sign of him leaving.
One evening he mentioned a recipe

for smooth, seedless gooseberry sorbet
but by then I was tired of him: taking pocket money
from my boy at cards, sucking up to my wife and on his last night
sizing up my daughter. He was smoking my pipe
as we stirred his supper.

Where does the hand become the wrist?
Where does the neck become the shoulder? The watershed
and then the weight, whatever turns up and tips us over that
razor’s edge
between something and nothing, between
one and the other.

I could have told him this
but didn’t bother. We ran him a bath
and held him under, dried him off and dressed him
and loaded him into the back of the pick-up.
Then we drove without headlights

to the county boundary,
dropped the tailgate, and after my boy
had been through his pockets we dragged him like a mattress
across the meadow and on the count of four
threw him over the border.

This is not general knowledge, except
in gooseberry season, which reminds me, and at the table
I have been known to raise an eyebrow, or scoop the sorbet
into five equal portions, for the hell of it.
I mention this for a good reason.

 Summary of Gooseberry Season

• Popularity of “Gooseberry Season”: “Gooseberry Season” by Simon Robert Armitage, a popular English novelist, poet, and playwright, is a colloquial poetic piece. The poem first appeared in his collection, The Shout, in 2005. The poem has become a classic piece of a host’s argument of why he kills his guest and dumps his body callously. This indifference in a horrible act makes this poem of Armitage memorable.
• “Gooseberry Season” As a Representative of Callousness: The poet opens the poem with a narrator stating that something reminds him something happened a few days back about the man who comes to him to stay with him. The narrator tells about him that he has lost his job, has left a note to his wife and brother, and locked his dog in the coal bunker before coming to them. They have made him comfortable but he continues sleeping until Monday and then hangs up with them until they are fed up with his presence. And to top it all, he has been enjoying their hospitality without a word of thanks. He has not paid them anything while the host states that he has been spending everything on him, while he was just casually mentioning gooseberry sorbet to make fun of the host. The host does not take it lightly and the entire family musters up the courage to kill him, making him “between something and nothing.” After that, they load him to throw his body on the country boundary and then forget about him. However, someday he sees gooseberry in the season and this incident comes to his mind when the entire family members share gooseberry sorbet, throwing the incident into oblivion forever. He just mentions it due to the season of gooseberry.
• Major Themes in “Gooseberry Season”: Murder, callousness, and remorselessness are three major themes of the poem. Although it is clear that the guest has teased the host much by his behavior, habits, and character, this is is a clear murder in which the entire family is involved. The way the narrator tells everything about it and feels nothing shows his callousness and indifferent attitude. He even does not feel remorse for this clear murder and just recalls that moment after a long time when gooseberry season arrives. His objective is to tell the readers that it is a good reason to recall that old murder of his guest.

Analysis of Literary Devices Used In “Gooseberry Season”

literary devices often bring variety into simple poetic pieces. Their appropriate helps the readers to sense the real message of the poet. Simon Armitage has also used some literary devices in “Gooseberry Season” whose analysis is as follows.

1. Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line such as the sound of /a/ in “at noon, asking for water. He’d walked from town”, the sound of /o/ in “after losing his job, leaving me a note for his wife and his brother” and the sound of /e/ in “One evening he mentioned a recipe.”
2. Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line such as the sound /w/ in “week went”, the sound of /s/ in “smooth seedless” and the sound of /w/ in “weight whatever.”
3. Enjambment: It is defined as a thought in verse that does not come to an end at a line break; rather, it rolls over to the next line. For example;

Which reminds me. He appearedat noon, asking for water. He’d walked from townafter losing his job, leaving me a note for his wife and his brotherand locking his dog in the coal bunker.

4. Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line such as the sound of /l/ and /k/ in “and locking his dog in the coal bunker”, the sound of /s/ and /r/ in “for smooth, seedless gooseberry sorbet” and the sound of /w/ and /r/ in “Than a month, and not a stroke of work, a word of thanks.”
5. Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. Simon Armitage has used imagery in this poem such as “and locking his dog in the coal bunker”, “for smooth, seedless gooseberry sorbet” and “Where does the hand become the wrist.”
6. Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between the objects that are different. The poet has used the metaphor of gooseberry as a memory.
7. Motif: The poem shows the use of gooseberry as a motif to show the murder.
8. Paradox: The poem shows the use of a paradox such as “between something and nothing.”
9. Rhetorical Question: Rhetorical question is a question that is not asked to receive an answer; it is just posed to make the point clear. The writer has posed rhetorical questions in the beginning of the poem to emphasize his point such as, “Where does the hand become the wrist?” or “Where does the neck become the shoulder?”
10. Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from literal meanings. The pot has used gooseberry as a symbol of reminder.

Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in “Gooseberry Season”

Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is the analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.

1. Diction and Tone: The poem shows smooth and colloquial diction with a serious, somber, indifferent as well as casual tone.
2. Free Verse: Free verse is a type of poetry that does not contain patterns of rhyme or meter. This is a free verse poem with no strict rhyme or meter.
3. Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. There are seven stanzas in this poem with each comprising a different number of verses.

Quotes to be Used

These lines from “Gooseberry Season” are suitable to use when telling about guests having no manners to live and teaching how to behave as a guest.

A week went by and he hung up his coat.
Then a month, and not a stroke of work, a word of thanks,
a farthing of rent or a sign of him leaving.