The Manhunt

Question 1

What is the poem about?

Answer 1

A soldier, his wife, and the effect of the Bosnian War on their relationship

Question 2

Why was this poem written?

Answer 2

For a documentary called ‘Forgotten Heroes: The Not Dead’

Question 3

From whose perspective is this poem written from?

Answer 3

The soldiers wife

Question 4

Implies someone has been lost, needs to be reclaimed

Answer 4

‘Manhunt’

Question 5

Reflects that their relationship is loving and strong

Answer 5

‘passionate nights and intimate days’

Encompasses Night + Day, loving at all times

Question 6

Suggests their reunion is short lived

Answer 6

Repetition of ‘after’ in 1st Stanza

Question 7

Implies hesitation on soldiers part, tension in relationship

Answer 7

Repetition of ‘let me’

Implies she needs permission

Question 8

Implies injury in first stanza,

Also implies insensitivity and lack of emotion

Answer 8

‘Frozen river’

Question 9

First violent description of injury

3rd stanza, may reflect that the wife may have not fully picked up on this issue till now

Answer 9

‘Only then would he let me explore/ the blown hinge of his lower jaw’
May also relate to the fact that he may not be able to talk about the things he has seen

Question 10

Stanza 1-3 structure

Answer 10

Rhyming couplets, reflects love and understanding nature of their relationship

Question 11

Reflects fragility of the soldier

Answer 11

• ‘Damaged, porcelain collar bone’
• ‘fractured rudder of shoulder-blade’
• ‘parachute silk of his punctured lung’

Question 12

Stanza 4 - 6 structure

Answer 12

• Enjambement of lines reflects the amount of time it is taking wife to understand her husbands state
• lack of rhyming couplets shows that the relationship is breaking down, lacks understanding

Question 13

The wife attempts to repair the soldier

Answer 13

• ‘Only then could I bind the struts’

- struts are rods that make up a framework that supports a structure

Question 14

Suggests recovering the soldier is a long process

Answer 14

‘Climb the rungs of his broken ribs’

• rungs compare his ribs to a ladder, idea of strenuous task

Question 15

Suggests that the wife is beginning to understand him

Answer 15

‘And feel the hurt of his grazed heart’

Question 16

Suggests the wife is slowly approaching her husband to identify the source of his behaviour

Answer 16

‘Skirting along’

Question 17

Metaphor highlighting life changing effects of war

Answer 17

• ‘The foetus of metal beneath his chest’
• Foetus of metal may be describing a bullet. Use of foetus suggests it is as lifefchanging as a baby, also brings them together as a baby would

Question 18

Suggests the soldiers PTSD is unpredictable

Answer 18

‘Sweating, unexploded mine’

Sweating is indicative of anxiety, links to PTSD

Question 19

Suggests PTSD is hard to notice

Answer 19

• ‘Buried deep in his mind’

- Also shows just how deeply embedded the trauma of what he has seen is in his mind

Question 20

Shows that PTSD has a physical impact

Answer 20

• ‘Every nerve in his body had tightened and closed’

- may also reflect how much he is struggling against his PTSD

Question 21

Suggests that their relationship is getting closer

Answer 21

• ‘Then and only then did i come close’

- also tells us just how complex PTSD is to understand