Poetry - The Manhunt Flashcards
Who wrote manhunt
Simon Armitage
Manhunt context
Part of collection and documentary called the “not dead”
Read by Laura from the perspective of her husband, Eddie Beddoes
Told from the perspective of a soldier’s wife - Laura Beddoes
Written in 1998 to explore the effects of PTSD on soldiers returning from Bosnia.
Rhyme scheme reflects the impact of the injury on Eddie and his relationship with Laura
Armitage worked closely with Laura to capture the complexity of living with someone with PTSD, as well as its effects on the victim
Poem transcends the circumstances of C21st war and makes us think of other wars whilst also being a profound and moving love poem - addresses common issues after war
“After the first phase
After passionate nights and days”
Rhyming couplet - talks about early relationship between the narrator and his wife
Adjectives “passionate” and “intimate” both open poem in a positive way.
Only then he would let me trace
The frozen river which ran through his face
Creates harrowing image of soldier’s injury
Adjective frozen suggests the scar is frozen and solid
River metaphorically refers to the path of the bullet
Comparisons for The manhunt
The Soldier - war
Themes for The manhunt
War
Relationships
Possible topic statements for the manhunt
Armitage uses Laura’s poem, The Manhunt, as a vehicle to expose the effects of war on soldiers and also challenge
idealistic stereotypes of soldiers after coming back from war. Throughout the poem, he distorts the conventional ideas of soldiers returning strong and brave. For Armitage, war is presented as messy and unhonorable, not worth dying for than an act of martyr.
Structure of ‘The Manhunt’
Each couplet explores a different injury and moves further into his body/mind - allows reader to explore him as the narrator does
Short middle stanza emphasises how physical scars may look worse, but mental scars have far more effect
The Manhunt form
Couplets
Full rhyme at beginning - reflects initial harmony in couple
Half rhyme towards end - mirrors deterioration of relationship
Progression of ‘The Manhunt’
First part - harmonious relationship (rhyme)
Second part - explores physical scarring (relationship deteriorates - half rhyme)
Third part - explores mental scarring
Fourth part - hopeful, but not yet there (half rhyme of closed and close)
The Manhunt title
Suggests an official search for a missing person
Suggests that the man she once knew is lost - negative tone instantly created
After the first phase, after passionate nights and intimate days
Rhyming couplet - Echoes a traditional love poem and suggests the couple are reconnecting
Frozen river
His tears are unable to fall yet - also an extended metaphor from “the source” later on in the poem suggesting that his mental scarring runs through his face from his mind
Blown hinge of his lower jaw
He is unable to talk about his experiences - displays mental scarring through image of physical scarring
Anaphora of “and” at the beginning of lines 7, 9 and 11
Creates a sense of listing and therefore emphasises the sheer quantity of things that are wrong with him
only then
This phrase is repeated many times
Portrays his slow and painstaking recovery and their reconciliation as a couple
handle and hold
Alliteration - emphasises her care for him and also her cautiousness
porcelain and silk
Suggest his vulnerability - he is a delicate being
His beauty in the eyes of the narrator
fractured rudder
parachute silk
rings
porcelain
blown hinge
Describe his body parts as a collection of inanimate objects - suggests his mental scarring is taking away his humanity - makes him appear less alive
War imagery to insinuate epithets of war in him
What does “fractured rudder” suggest?
He is unable to cope (steer himself) emotionally - she has to do it for him
What effect does “rungs” have?
Creates an image of a ladder - reflective of wife’s gradual, step-by-step search
What effect do “finger and thumb”, “mind and attend” and “handle and hold” have on the reader?
Tricolon of verb structures suggests her active part in his recovery
What does “parachute silk of his punctured lung” suggest?
Creates an image of a broken parachute - would be useless - reflects how he feels about himself
List the words that show the semantic field of care and explain what they suggest
“Trace “
“Mind and attend “
These are gentle - show that she is careful and affectionate
“Bind “
Shows how she is helping him to regain his strength - stress how carefully and delicately she cares for him
“feel the hurt “
Stresses how close she is to him - she feels his hurt too
What does “skirting along” suggest?
Suggests how cautiously she has to tread around him so as not to set off his PTSD
What do the images of broken body parts suggest?
Suggest that casualties of war have vulnerability of both mind and body
What does “grazed heart” suggest?
Suggests he is no longer able to connect with his wife or feel positive emotion
What does “fœtus of metal” suggest?
It suggests a continued growth of his pain - it will only grow stronger with time
Could also suggest that his scarring will change their relationship permanently like a new baby would
What does “sweating, unexploded mine” suggest?
Metaphor - suggests that the source of his problem is mental and it threatens to cause problems at any time - The worst is yet to come
What does the enjambment between “around which” and “every nerve” do?
It suggests the speaker’s desire to keep making progress, even if it’s slow
Also emphasises “every nerve” which suggests that he is completely consumed by his mental scarring
What does the perfect verb “closed” suggest?
He is completely closed off from emotion and from the narrator - and that it will be permanent
What is the effect of the last line, “Then, and only then, did I come close.” ?
The only one line sentence in the poem - gives emphasis to the wife’s realisation that her husband psychological scars are worse than his physical ones, and that she’ll never truly be able to understand his suffering
What does the half rhyme of “closed” and “close” suggest?
Gives a muted ending - the speaker has made progress but can only “come close”
