The Manhunt - Simon Armitage

Question 1

“after passionate nights and intimate days”

Answer 1

The first couplets could be the start of a traditional love poem. It echoes the first stages of a new relationship and suggests the couple are reconnecting.

Question 2

“only when would he let me”
“ “
“only then would he let me”

Answer 2

Repetition of phrases emphasises that the soldier’s recovery is slow and painstaking.

Question 3

“trace”
“face”
“explore”
“jaw”

Answer 3

Full rhymes sound positive - they’re making progress.

Question 4

“blown hinge”

Answer 4

Image of physical brokenness suggests that her husband struggles to talk about his experiences.

Question 5

“and handle and hold”
“ “
“and mind and attend”
“ “
“and finger and thumb”

Answer 5

Repeated structure of two verbs in each stanza conveys the idea that she takes an active part in helping the soldier get better.

Question 6

“damaged, porcelain collar-bone,”
“ “
“fractured rudder of shoulder-blade,”

Answer 6

Images of the soldier’s damaged body highlight how fragile he is. The fact that his body is broken down into a series of separate, broken objects suggest that war dehumanises people.

Question 7

“parachute silk of his punctured lung.”

Answer 7

A damaged parachute would be useless.

Question 8

“I”

Answer 8

Personal pronoun shows the speaker is actively involved in her husband’s recovery.

Question 9

“the rungs of his broken ribs,”

Answer 9

Comparing his ribs to the rungs of a ladder implies that his recovery is a slow step-by-step process.

Question 10

“bind the struts”

Answer 10

Figurative language suggests she’s patching him up - it’s as if she’s tying is broken ribs back in place to make him strong again.

Question 11

“hurt”
“heart”

Answer 11

Half-rhyme could reflect that she’s partially understood the link between his physical and emotional pain, but there’s still a way to go.

Question 12

“grazed”

Answer 12

Double meaning of “glazed” - the bullet only ‘grazed past’ his heart, but it left emotional ‘grazes’ behind.

Question 12

“source”

Answer 12

Extended metaphor - the speaker has found the source of the “river” from stanza 2. She’s moving closer to the cause of his suffering, but it also shows he’s not better.

Question 12

“the scan,”
“foetus of metal”

Answer 12

Metaphor comparing the bullet to a foetus emphasises that his experiences are now a part of him. It could also hint that being injured is as life-changing as becoming a parent.

Question 12

“buried deep in his mind”

Answer 12

His emotional injuries are hidden - its difficult to get this part of him.

Question 12

“sweating, unexploded mine”

Answer 12

Image of a sweating bomb shows the tension and stress which his memories cause. He may not have dealt with some parts of his experience, as the mine is “unexploded”.

Question 13

“which”
“every”

Answer 13

Enjambment across stanzas gives the poem a sense of movement reflecting the speaker’s desire to keep making progress, even if it’s slow.

Question 14

“closed”

Answer 14

The last lines don’t fully rhyme, which makes this a muted ending - the speaker has made progress but can only “come close”.

Question 15

“Then, and only then, did I come close”

Answer 15

This is the only sentence hat lies on one line. This gives emphasis to the wife’s realisation that her husband’s psychological ‘scars’ are worse than his physical ones.

Question 16

What is the poem about?

Answer 16

1) The wife of a soldier gets to know her husband again after he returns home injured from war.
The poem is sometimes subtitled ‘Laura’s poem’ - Laura (the soldier’s wife) is the speaker.

2) Her husband has physical scars from the injuries he sustained in war.

3) He also has psychological ‘scars’ as a result of his traumatic experiences. The poem progresses from describing the scars on his body to exploring his mental ‘scars’ and how they affect him.

Question 17

Form

Answer 17

FORM - the poems couplet-long stanzas have lines of varying lengths. Initially the couplets rhyme, but later on the rhymes break down, making the poem feel disjointed and reflecting the theme of brokenness.

Question 18

Structure

Answer 18

STRUCTURE - Different injuries are introduced in different couplets, gradually moving further into the soldier’s body. This allows the reader to explore his body and mind in the same slow process as his wife.

Question 19

Language about the body

Answer 19

LANGUAGE ABOUT THE BODY - The soldier’s body is presented using adjectives that describe damage. These are paired with metaphors that suggest his body has become a collection of broken objects. This could suggest that the damage has taken away some of his humanity, or these comparisons could be a way for his wife to understand and come to terms with his injuries.

Question 20

Caring Language

Answer 20

CARING LANGUAGE - A range of different verbs are being used to describe how the woman is caring for the injured man. Verbs like “trace” and “attend” are gentle, while “bind” shows how she is helping him to regain his strength. These words stress how carefully and delicately she cares for him.

Question 21

Love

Answer 21

LOVE - The soldier’s wife is sensitive in her approach to her wounded husband. She wants to help him and is slowly trying to get to know him again, in order to understand what he is going through.

Question 22

Patience

Answer 22

PATIENCE - It takes the whole poem for the woman to just “come close” to her husband, and it’s unclear how much more progress she will be able to make in the future. This shows how patient both the soldier and his wife will have to be for him to recover fully.

Question 23

Pain

Answer 23

PAIN - The imagery in the poem suggests that the soldier suffers both physically and mentally. It’s implied that his psychological trauma, rather than his physical pain, is the main cause of his suffering.