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The Clown’s Wife by Johnson Agard

A literary analysis

Sujani Hansamali
4 min readApr 23, 2022
Photo by meijii

The poem “The Clown’s Wife” which falls under the theme of ‘humor’ was written by a well-known poet, Johnson Agard. The poet brings out a picture of a clown and elicits certain frailties related to human life while arousing a sense of humor in the reader’s mind. The clowns usually engage in a very specific task as they are responsible for entertaining the audience. The clown’s character which is portrayed by Johnson Agard in this particular poem is also confronting a great ordeal in his real life.

The poet described a straightforward account of the deep and sensitive aspects of the clown’s life through the sharp eyes of his wife. The poem manifests a set of authentic controversies related to human life.

“About my husband, the clown,

what could I say?”

The wife has been contemplating how to transform her husband into a delightful or happy person as she found him always full of negativities and confusion when he is at home. She has a great enthusiasm for distinguishing the actual reason for her husband’s distress and disappointment. She questions the reader “What could I say” and it demonstrates to the reader how helpless and oppressive her mind is at the moment when she sees him moaning.

“On stage, he’s a different person.

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Sujani Hansamali
Sujani Hansamali

Written by Sujani Hansamali

Undergraduate who is enthusiastic in teaching young learners and writing literary pieces, from Sri Lanka

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