The Manhunt Flashcards
Context
UN peacekeeper in Bosnian war
Hit by a landmine
Diagnosed with PTSD
Rhyming couplets suggests Love despite mental barrier
Language and imagery
Compressed, uncluttered and concise, with strong metaphors, and vivid imagery
Semantic field of words
Structure
Thirteen stanzas of two lines each (couplets), some of which are rhymed or half-rhymed, with lines of unequal length to reflect the sense
Couplets allude to the unity
for each stanza, the first line is descriptive, but the second line touches the more delicate psychological implications
Tone
melancholic
reflective of war
After the first phase,
after passionate nig…
After the first phase,
after passionate nights and intimate days,
beginning of a loving period
anaphora of “after” - emphasizes that something negative will occur.
only t…
only then
Anaphora
recount the small steps being taken
frozen river which ran th…
frozen river which ran through his face,
metaphor for the flow of loving feelings which have now become hardened like ice.
also literally refers to a scar from injury
could represent the husband’s sadness: how his tears are unable to flow
Frozen also implies a coldness - in their relationship
‘face’ is the first of a semantic field of words relating to parts of the body
parachute silk of his…
parachute silk of his punctured lung.
alliterative and plosive, to reinforce the idea of violent injury.
damaged and feels similarly useless.
semantic field of words relating to delicacy and vulnerability
feels emasculated
and feel the hurt
of his grazed…
and feel the hurt
of his grazed heart.
half-rhyme
consonant ‘h’ sounds to suggest heavy-breathing effort
onomatopoeic, and brings to mind the pain
long vowels give feeling of heaviness
emotional climax
foetus of metal b…
foetus of metal beneath his chest
wound is metaphorically part of him as a pregnant woman is one with her unborn baby. It suggests that her husband’s injuries, much like the birth of a child, will be life-changing
ironic, juxtaposing the imagery of the foetus
only then, di…
only then, did I come close.
only short sentence in the poem
It suggests that she can never fully understand the trauma that her husband has suffered
So the title of the poem finally makes sense; the “manhunt” will continue into the future.
unexploded mine
buried…
unexploded mine
buried deep in his mind
military weapon which can explode at any time also the distress of the struggling soldier
His wife must somehow reach this depth, while at the same time be aware that she can set off an ‘explosion’ of emotion
must disarm’ this deeply embedded ‘weapon’.
