The Manhunt (been In Exam Before) - Simon Armitage

Question 1

Possible themes

Answer 1

• war
• love
• change
• death
• women
• fragility
• memories
• relationships
• freedom/confinement
• time
• injustice
• identity

Question 2

What is the perespective

Answer 2

Perspective of the wife of the soldier whos sustained serious injuries at war and has returned home

Question 3

What does it explore

Answer 3

The physical/mental effects of living with injuries from being on active service in the armed forces

Question 4

Structure

Answer 4

• made of couplets mostly unrhyming - creates a sense of fragmentation - matches the feeling of the soldiers wife as she tries to understand the man her husbands become
• lyric poem - narrator reveals strong emotions/thoughts/feelings
• begins with memory of the old relationship and ends with the new one

Question 5

Analyse ‘the frozen river which ran through his face’

Answer 5

‘The frozen river’ = extended metaphor - crying tears

Question 6

Analyse ‘and handle and hold’

Answer 6

‘Handle’ , ‘hold’ = Alliteration - being careful, calm, soft with him

Question 7

Analyse ‘the parachute silk of his punctured lung’

Answer 7

‘Punctured lung’ - cant breathe, lungs are collapsing like a parachute with a hole in it - idea of being deflated
- broken parachute - may reflect how the soldier feels

Question 8

Analyse ‘feel the hurt of his grazed heart’

Answer 8

‘Grazed heart’ - injured heart of the man but als heartbreak for the wife because he feels useless and she cant help him - relationship is affected

Question 9

Analyse ‘unexploded mine’

Answer 9

Metaphor - ptsd/mental health - his mental state is like a mine about to explode - his wife must be careful as not to set it off

Question 10

Analyse ‘every nerve in his body had tightened and closed’

Answer 10

• all his nerves have switched off - he shuts himself off/away from everyone including his wife - scared to get close to anyone maybe because he lost close friends in the war and he doesnt want to go through that again

Question 11

Context

Answer 11

• aired as part of the documentary - The Not Dead -
• in the documentary Laura (Eddie bedoes wife) reads the poem
• Eddie was a peace-keeper in the Bosnia war (1994) but was discharged due to injury/depression
• poem is also called Lauras poem