The Manhunt - Simon Armitage

The Manhunt - Simon Armitage

1. STRUCTURE

   • Made up of a series of couplets - mostly unryhmed.
     • Gives a sense of fragmentation.
       • Distance between wife and husband.

2. LANGUAGE

   • The "Manhunt" refers to a search for a fugitive or wanted person.
     • The wife is searching for the man she feels she has lost.
   • The poem suggests the wife is "exploring" unknown territory.
     • Word such as "handle hold" refer to her tentative, loving care for her husband.
   • The text suggests the husband is altered physically and mentally.
     • The wife gradually searches for answers and her husband.
       • "Bind the struts and climb the rungs" suggest a ladder - a GRADUAL search for answers.
   • "Damaged porcelain" and "punctured lung".
     • These suggest the woman's husband is damaged goods. He is altered, unknown to her, and yet she still cares for him.

3. ATTITUDES AND IDEAS

   • Patience, love and care/
     • Devotion
   • The cost of serving with the armed forces.
     • The effect of war on both soldiers and their families.
   • "A foetus of metal buries deep in his chest">
     • Like with a baby, the couple' relationship is altered forever.

4. KEY QUOTATIONS

   • "Only then would he let me explore..."
     • "Exploring" unfamiliar territory. The wife is "searching" for answers, all of this suggests she doesn't 'know' her husband anymore. She searches tentatively, careful of hurting him, unsure of what he has become. Still, she is devoted.
   • "A sweating, unexploded mine, buried deep in his mind..."
     • The damage is not physical, it is mental. Scarring is permanent. A mine is dangerous, unpredictable, and may explode at anytime. It poses a threat, and the wife is cautious of it.
   • "Then, only then, did I come close."
     • The wife's search ends fruitlessly. She has failed to "find" her husband. Whilst physically altered, her husband's physical scarring, she finds, is not the source of their problems. Her husband is a changed man - he has changed not only mentally but physically.
   • "Hande hold" and "finger and thumb".
     • The wife's "search" is thorough yet gentle. She still cares about him despite his injuries - the devotion of her love.