Hitcher
First person
narrative;
immediacy
Hitcher
I'd been tired, under
Fed up with his job?
the weather, but the ansaphone kept screaming:
colloquial
personification
One more sick-note, mister, and you're finished. Fired.
I thumbed a lift to where the car was parked.
A Vauxhall Astra. It was hired.
Sounds
romantic. The
hitcher has
freedom and no
responsibilities
Rhyming words
reinforce his
dissatisfaction
I picked him up in Leeds.
He was following the sun to west from east
with just a toothbrush and the good earth for a bed.
The truth he said, was blowin' in the wind,
or round the next bend.
Echo of Bob
Dylan song
“blowin’ in the
wind”
Takes his
frustrations out
on the hitcher.
The narrator
envies him
I let him have it
on the top road out of Harrogate - once
Stark violent
images
with the head, then six times with the krooklok
in the face - and didn't even swerve.
I dropped it into third
Enjambment
and leant across
to let him out, and saw him in the mirror
bouncing off the kerb, then disappearing down the verge.
Echo of the
Hitcher’s voice,
different
language from
the narrator
We were the same age, give or take a week.
He'd said he liked the breeze
to run its fingers
through his hair. It was twelve noon.
The outlook for the day was moderate to fair.
Colloquial
Stitch that, I remember thinking,
you can walk from there.
Return to
normality,
details of time
and weather
Links to Other Poems
• Violence
O What is that Sound, Belfast Confetti, Our
Sharpeville, The Drum
• Conflict between people:
Catrin, Parade’s End, Our Sharpeville, Your Dad
did What?, Cousin Kate
Exam Style Questions…
1. Explain how Armitage presents conflict
and violence in the poem “Hitcher”. Use
examples from the poem to support your
ideas.
2. Compare how the writers of Hitcher and
one other poem of your choice present
actions against others. (model essay handout)