manhunt poem

manhunt poem

Form
1. poem divided into separate couplet-long stanzas
  1. shows that it describes a slow, step-by-step process
Structure
1. different injuries introduced in different couplets
2. reader explores husbands mind & body in slow process that wife has done
3. further on in poem there's incomplete rhyme
  1. at start it went well then relationship went down hill
  2. trying to get to know him but got problems along the way
Language about body
1. adjectives that describe damage of body
  1. 'frozen river'
    1. he's cold- what his relationship is like
      1. blank expression
        traumatised
2. metaphors that suggest his body has become a collection of broken objects
  1. suggests that damage has taken away his humanity
3. 'porcelain collar-bone'
  1. emphasises how fragile he is and how delicate she has to be
4. 'climb the rungs of his broken ribs'
  1. imagery is as if just climbed inside him
  2. 'hurt' & 'grazed heart'
    1. consonance emphasises emotional pain
    2. short, stands out
    3. main cause of pain
    4. relationship injured physically&mentally
  3. 'foetus of metal'
    1. fragile, vulnerable
    2. just the start of the pain
5. 'sweating, unexploded mine buried deep in his mind
  1. suggests the tension & stress which his memories cause
  2. main problem is psychological&emotional
  3. half rhyme draws attention
language about caring
1. employs range of verbs describing how women is caring for injured man
2. these words stress carefulness& delicateness
  1. suggest the way in which she cares for him
    1. physically & emotionally
3. 'passionate nights intimate days'
  1. first couplets seem like it could be normal love poem -first stages of a new relationship
4. 'only then'
  1. repetition suggest slow painstaking process
    1. slowly overcoming his resistance
5. 'and handle and hold' 'and mind and attend' 'and finger and thumb'
  1. repetition of the structure with two verbs in each stanza emphasises it's an active process
  2. looking after him, fixing him
6. 'bind the struts'
  1. suggest she's patching him up
words linked with war for his injuries
1. 'parachute silk of his punctured lung'
  1. if damaged it is no use
  2. silk-delicate
'tightened and closed'
1. supress feelings
  1. no feelings left
2. almost rhyme
  1. muted ending-he's not all better
3. 'did I come close'
  1. ambiguity-suggests she had to wait until now to get 'close' to him
    1. also she has only 'come close'
  2. understand what happened in war
  3. close in relationship
Feelings and Attitudes
1. caring
  1. she's sensitive in her approach to wounded husband
2. patience
  1. takes whole poem for wife to 'come close' to husband
3. pain
  1. words used to describe man suggest his experiences have left him inwardly tormented and scarred

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	Created by eilishhardy about 10 years ago