the manhunt

Question 1

overview

Answer 1

The Manhunt is written from the perspective of Laura who is married to Eddie. Eddie came back from war injured after serving as a peacekeeper in the Bosnian war in the 1990’s. He suffered from PTSD. The purpose of the poem is to make people understand the effects of war for people who were forgotten about after it ended. This poem is specifically about Eddie which makes the poem personal. Laura is actively searching for the person Eddie used to be because his experiences changed him. The Manhunt describes the first stage in a rough recovery and focuses on a long period of time so you can watch the recovery take place and truly realise the effects of war.

Question 2

beginning

Answer 2

• The poet starts describing the physical injuries Eddie has. He has a ‘frozen river which ran through his face.’ The metaphor of the scar suggests how his face is ‘frozen’ as he can’t move his face. Therefore, he can’t show his emotions which could suggest how the war has changed him by not just scarring his face but leaving him more emotionally closed off than he was before.
• Next the poet describes how he ‘let me explore the blown hinge of his lower jaw.’ The word ‘explore’ sounds tentative and this language helps to suggest how gentle the wife is and how much she cares for him. The metaphor also suggests how he can no longer speak because his jaw is broken and the fact that his jaw is ‘blown’ suggests how painful the injury must have been because it was completely destroyed.

Question 3

middle

Answer 3

• ‘And mind and attend the fractured rudder of shoulder blade.’ The repetition of ‘and’ emphasises just how many injuries Eddie has. The metaphor of the ‘fractured rudder’ suggests how he has no control of his life anymore because ‘fractured’ means split. Therefore, he no longer knows what his purpose is because of his injury as it has changed him.
• The poet describes his ‘grazed heart.’ The word ‘grazed’ suggests that this is a minor injury and that it can heal quickly. However, the heart is symbolic of feelings of love and care which suggests how this injury can mend and with it he can mend his relationship with his wife.

Question 4

end

Answer 4

• The husband has also got hidden injuries such as the ‘unexploded mine deep in his mind.’ The ‘unexploded mine’ could be his temper which is always close to exploding due to the PTSD he has from his experiences. This is the last injury the poet explores because it is ‘deep in his mind’ suggesting how it was the hardest one to find because it was a mental injury.
• Finally, the wife says ‘only then, did I come close.’ This suggests how the recovery has to continue for the relationship between the wife and husband to get stronger. The comma that breaks up the sentence suggests how the recovery isn’t smooth which is why the sentence is broken up.

Question 5

form & structure

Answer 5

The order of ideas shows the discovery of his injuries which is why the first one is the easiest to see but the last one is mental and therefore harder to see.
- All the stanzas being broken up shows how the soldier is broken and also shows how many injuries there are. Each injury is a new stanza.
- The lines with different lengths suggest how the recovery is uneven.
- Throughout the poem the phrase ‘only then’ is repeated. This suggests how long the recovery has taken and how it is still ongoing.