The Clown’s Wife

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?’

Poem Analysis

The poem “The Clown’s Wife”, which comes under the theme of life, is about
the life of a clown. The life of the clown is depicted through the eyes of his wife. The
poem shows the difference between the appearance and reality. He has a dual
personality- his public life and private life. People, the onlookers of the clown, may think
that he lives very happily and always smiles as he performs on the stage. But according to
the poem it is not so. His happiness is a pretense. His wife says though he is a “king on a
throne” he is moaning or crying when he is at home. But the world doesn’t know about
that. How pathetic the life of the clown is.

At home the wife plays the role of the clown and tries to make him laugh by
doing various tricks and jokes. But he cannot laugh as there is something inside him. He
doesn’t say the reason for his grief. Instead he talks to himself and say:

‘ O life, ah life,

what would I do without this clown of a wife?’

The image of the clown is sympathetic. The clowns have to put on a happy face
before the audience to make them laugh. It is not easy to make others laugh specially while you yourself is suffering or grieving inside. Though he plays the role of an entertainer, as a human being he has many grievances which the others cannot see or understand. On the other hand he is unhappy may be because he gets a low salary for his work.

Moreover, the wife of the clown is presented as caring and loving person in the
poem. She tries her best to cheer him up at home. It seems that the wife is a solace to the
unhappy life of the clown.

The poet makes the reader aware of the pathetic side of the life of a clown and it
can be applicable to lives of the people in general: what we see is always not the true picture.

Appearance is not always the reality.
So the poem deals with the difference between appearance and reality and also the
hardships and sufferings of the poor.