Examine the loss of hope and control in “Out of the Blue” by Simon Armitage

Armitage’s Poem “Out of the Blue” is written from the perspective of a victim of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre in 2001. Two key themes within the poem are a loss of hope, and loss of control, both of which are portrayed through the structure and language of the poem.In terms of structure, Armitage uses a childlike rhyme scheme (ABAB) to portray an initial sense of hope, and potentially to contrast with the dire subject matter of the poem. This rhyme scheme deteriorates to a half rhyme as the poem progresses, potentially to reiterate a loss of control. The use of varying line lengths also creates a sense of confusion and chaos, representative of the chaos around the narrator (“sirens below are wailing”). Caesuras are used to further this sense of loss of control, since the reader may become breathless reading the poem aloud; just as the narrator would have been breathless breathing in the smoke.Turning our attention to language, the author adopts a lexis of everyday language – “pegging out washing” “shaking crumbs”, to create a bond between the reader and narrator, painting them as not so different to them after all. This everyday language contrasts directly with the direness of the situation, and is potentially used to create empathy. The repetition of these everyday words, “waving” for example, reiterates that the narrator has gone from everyday actions, to facing his death. The “white cotton shirt” in particular can be seen as symbol of a flag of surrender. Further imagery portrays the narrator’s lack of hope as the poem progresses, for example the “bird” flying near them. Not only does this reiterate the physical distance, and hence helplessness of, the narrator and reader, but also creates an irony that the humans are falling to their death whilst birds fly around them. The final stanza iterates a total loss of hope, with the repetition of “tiring, tiring” and personification of the sirens “wailing, firing”, potentially alluding to the human cries of helplessness in not being able to rescue the trapped people inside the building. The final words of the poem “failing, flagging” are heavy sounds that appears to drag, adding to the negative overall lexis of the final stanzas, and portraying a lasting image of hopelessness and lack of control.