The Manhunt

Question 1

Point 1 - There are descriptions of how fragile the soldier is through the use of natural and war imagery

Answer 1

‘blown hinge of his lower jaw’ - showing physical damage
‘the damaged porcelain collar-bone’ - shows the delicacy of his state
‘the parachute silk of his punctured lung’ - parachute saves lives by it is now delicate and damaged
‘climb the rungs of his broken ribs’ - showing how he is physically broken
‘foetus of metal’ - this shows how the metal itself is fragile

Question 2

Point 2 - The first half describes the attempt to understand what the soldier has been through and the second half describes the attempt to help the soldier

Answer 2

‘would he let me explore’ - showing that she needs to explore to understand the issue
‘mind and attend’ - this not only shows that she has to be delicate but that she is trying to understand
‘let me trace’ - shows she is rediscovering him
‘Then I widened the search’ showing that she is making an attempt to fix the situation
‘then only then did I come close’ - showing how after all the effort she has only made slow progress by is attempting to help

Question 3

Point 3 - There is a emphasis on intimacy through the poem

Answer 3

‘after passionate nights and intimate days’ - describing the excitement of his initial return
‘he let me explore’ - showing intimacy
‘traced the scarring back to it’s source’ - showing that she is trying to help him but in a delicate way
‘sweating unexploded mine’ - this painful imagery shows how close they are that he allows her to see this ide of him
‘buried deep in his mind’ - shows that they are at a level of intimacy that she knows him so well

Question 4

Context

Answer 4

This poem was written for a documentary on ex-soldiers and their PTSD
- It talks about an ex-soldier called Eddie how suffered from a bullet wound in his chest
It is told from the perspective of his wife
It is written from the Bosnia descriptions

Question 5

Techniques

Answer 5

military language, metaphorical descriptions