poetry Flashcards
overview for manhunt
Armitage uses the poem as a vehicle to expose the emotional impact of trauma on relationships, focusing on the bond between a wife and her husband after war. He critiques society’s neglect of mental health, particularly PTSD, and redefines love as endurance resilience, rejecting idealised notions of love. Writing from the perspective of a wife tending to her husband who has come back from war, Simon Armitage uses the poem “The Manhunt” as a vehicle to:
-reject idealistic portrayals of love, he juxtaposes the traditional notions that love is easy and simple; he instead suggests that love is complex and that relationships require hard work and perseverance to stay happy.
-Armitage wrote the poem while making a documentary on the psychological effects of the Crimean war on soldiers, many of whom experience PTSD and long lasting trauma.
-By writing from the perspective of Laura Beddoes, he highlights the way in which war not only hurts the soldiers, but also destroys the relationships between their families and their loved ones, putting distance between them, 0showing how the emotional scars of war affect relationships far beyond the battlefield.
overview for sonnet 43.
Browning uses the poem as a vehicle to assert her right to express love through poetry, reclaiming the female voice in the nineteenth century. By re-negotiating the Petrarchan sonnet form, she challenges the societal norms that restricted women’s creative expression. Browning elevates love to a transcendental level, implying that her love for her husband mirrors the love God has for humanity. Through her celebration of love as a transformative force, she portrays it as a means of overcoming past traumas and afflictions, elevating it as both spiritual and redemptive.
overview for soldier
Brooke uses the poem as a vehicle to romanticise the idea of dying for one’s country, presenting martyrdom as the ultimate act of heroism and honor. By personifying England as a female figure, he appeals to societal expectations of masculinity, reinforcing the notion that men must protect and defend women. Through this, Brooke emphasizes patriotism, suggesting that all men owe a debt to their country and should willingly sacrifice their lives to preserve it, framing such sacrifice as both noble and righteous.
valentine
Duffy uses the poem as a vehicle to challenge the conventional, materialistic symbols of romance associated with Valentine’s Day. Through the onion, Duffy presents love as layered, complex, and often painful, rejecting the idealised, consumer-driven portrayals of affection. The onion symbolizes the raw and uncomfortable truths of love. Duffy also questions the permanence of love, suggesting it can be fleeting and uncertain, ultimately presenting love as a force that can be as dangerous and obsessive as it is passionate.
hawk roosting
Hughes uses the hawk as a vehicle to explore the corrupting nature of absolute power, encouraging readers to draw parallels between the hawk’s callousness and the brutal rulers of the twentieth century. Through the hawk’s self-assured and tyrannical perspective, Hughes critiques the exploitation of power, showing how it leads to narcissism, delusions of grandeur, and a disregard for morality. The poem exposes how power can strip individuals of their conscience, causing them to behave in an animalistic and destructive manner, ultimately presenting a chilling commentary on the dangers of unchecked authority.
ozymandias
Shelley uses the poem as a vehicle to condemn the exploitation of power, where rulers act with depravity and despotism for personal gain. Through the ruined statue, Shelley warns against hubris and vanity, showing that pride often leads to a fall. The poem emphasises the transitory nature of human power, as nature ultimately overwhelms and erases all human constructs. Shelley highlights the enduring power of art, suggesting that while empires fade, creativity and its legacy persist beyond time.
comparison
completely loses that chance to rekindle with her husband as he dies but in manhunt they were able to rekindle in the first phase as they had “passionate nights and intimate days”
where’s a wife in london d husband was hoping upon his return they would learn new love in summer but never got the chance
comp 2
manhunt has specifically been written about laura and eddie beddoes- their case is special as their relationship succeeded
wife in london could be about any wife in london who lost their husband in war- so many lost their husbands our at war and relationships sabotaged.
therefore a wife in london case more common as manhunt is rarw
comp 3
manhunt about soldier injured in. bosnia war wife in london about boer war
both poems
explore now the relationships between soldiers and their partners can be affected by war
theme of loss
The theme of Loss - In ‘The Manhunt’, the speaker is literally searching for her ‘lost’ husband (hence the title) and they have lost the trust that she then needs to try to regain (shown through repetition of ‘would he let me’. In ‘A Wife in London’, the woman receives news of her husband’s death, (‘he - is fallen - in the far south land’)
theme of women
Women - Both poems show not only the impact that war has on a relationship (death, loss of intimacy, etc) but shows it from the perspective of a woman. ‘The Manhunt’ is written in Laura’s POV, and Hardy writes about ‘A Wife’ (from the title) - this in itself implies that she is defined by her position and is one of many
hawk roosting 1
“I sit in the top of the wood” Above earths surface, top of the food chain, the furst person shows power as he is in control of everything including the narrative
my manners are tearing off heads para 2
threatening violent language shows brutality
end quote
the sun behind me even the sun backs him up nature is on his side he’s in control
