The Manhunt Flashcards
Introduction - relationships
Written for a documentary called ‘the forgotten hero’s - the not dead ’ Armitage uses the poem ‘The Manhunt’ as a vehicle to highlight the complex and multifaceted nature of love The poem is a dramatic monologue written from the perspective of Laura beddoes, a wife who gently helps her husband recover from his PTSD from the war, through this Armitage is able to criticise the lack of mental support given to discharged soldiers, causing strain on relationships with loved ones. Through the depiction of the relationship between the speaker and her partner, Armitage rejects idealised notions of love and presents the audience with the difficulty that the two face, yet they still persevere and endure in the face of adversity. Through this he celebrates the resilience of love and relationships and how the pain in the relationships can be restored, bringing people closer together.
Introduction - war
Written for a documentary called ‘Forgotten heros’, Armitage uses the poem ‘The Manhunt’ as a vehicle to highlight both the physical and psychological effect sof war. The poem is a dramatic monologue written from the perpective of Laura Beddoes, a wife who gently helps her husband recover from his PTSD from war. Through his portrayal of the soldiers psychological trauma, armitage highlights the way in which our society often neglects mental health by prioritising physical and visible scars. He stresses the desperation to improve mental health provision for sodiers suffering with PTSD, for whom it is alreday incredibly challenging to re intergrate into civillian life.
The manhunt
The noun ‘Manhunt’ implies that someone has been lost. It immediately establishes that the poem is about finding soemone
‘After passionate nights and intimate days’
Oxymoron of night and day suggests a strong loving relationship. However due to the tike phrase ‘after’ suggests that their loving reunion is short-lived due to the disruption of war
‘Let me’
The repitition of ‘let me’, implies that she needs to get permission to touch and look at eddies injuries, suggesting that there is tension and distance in their relationship, as eddie is tentative and reluctant in their relatiomship. Through this armitage is able to critises the widescale effects of war, as it leaves inedible scars on relationships and families
‘Trace the frozen river which ran through his face’
Ostensibly this is symbolic of the scars on his face left by the war. However on a deeper level it could be referring to eddies emotions. The adjective ‘frozen’ suggests that eddie can no longer move freely as he is emotionally and psychologically wounded as he battles with his PTSD. It could also reflect the coldness and distance in their relationship, which laura has to carefully thaw, as if she takes one wromg step on the ice, it could cost her entire relationship, suggesting that it is a patient and slow process, to get back to what their relationship was once like. ‘Frozen’ could also suggest that his tears are frozen, and is unable to express his emotions, due to societal expectations of masculinity, so he is reluctant to let her in, the frozen tears need to thaw. Armitage stresses a vital need for validating an emotional outlet for men rather than the repression of feeling.
‘Through’ indicates that these scars and wounds are more than just surface level, instead they run deep and have sugnificant unseen psychologica impact
Verb ‘trace’ suggests intimacy and delicacy of touch
Only then
Suggets the different phases that she has to go through to help her partner through his struggles. It suggests that eddie has lacked intimacy for so long has bevoke fragile.
‘Explore the blown hinge of his lower jaw’
This is the first time we are introduced to violent imagery suggesting fragility, damage and pain, emphasising how broken his experiences in war left him.
By only having this image in third stanza and not the first suggests that laura did not comprehend the extensiveness of eddies wounds to begin with, allowing armitage to highlight the struggles of war as most of them go by unoticed.
Highlights how he is unable to communicate with her
Structure in first 3 stanzas
Rhyming couplets in first three stanzas traditionally associated with love. Use of rhyme is indicative of love that laura and eddie share, and the strength of their relationship.
‘Handle and hold’
Soft sounds and alliteration, holds the line togteher like laura holds him. After the detrimental effects of war the soldiets need to be given care and support simce they are emotionally fragile
‘Mind and attent’
‘Mind and attend’ suggests that she has to be mentally and emotionaly presemt with him
‘the fractured rudder of the shoulder blade’
‘rudder’ is a ships strearing so this could be suggesting his inability to naviagte himself through life and in their relationship, he has lost his sense of purpose, as during the war all he know was fighting for his country and now he is back he is lost. Through this Armitages stresses the desperate need to improve our mental health provision for soldiers suffering with PTSD, for whom the re-integration into civilian life is already incredibly challenging.
‘Bind the struts’
‘Bind’ has connotations of nursing someone. Suggesting that she is patient and tentative in her approach. The relationship is being rebuilt slowly and gradually, as laura repairs eddie
‘Climb the rungs of his broken ribs’
Gradual step by step process. Ribs are compared to a ladder suggestijg that repairing him is a strenuous task, yet laura still persists to help him.
‘Feel the hurt of His grazed heart’
Half rhyme, implying laura is beggining to understand eddies pain and trauma.
She feels empathetic and feels his pain
