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The Manhunt by Simon Armitage analysis (Grade 9)
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Indepth notes for the WJEC English Literature (9-1) specification.
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The Manhunt by Simon Armitage (P.04)Narrative The poem explores the body and mental state of an injured soldier having returned from war from the
perspective of his wife.
Contexts Simon Armitage is a modern poet who often writes about issues affecting society. The poem is written
about a soldier who served in Bosnia as a peace keeper. He was later sent home from the army
because of his physical and phycological injuries.
Themes Relationships – Armitage The Damage of War – The Manhunt The Fragility of Human
explores the effect war had on describes in great detail the various Life – we see this through
the relationship of husband and mental and physical effects of war, the use of language across
wife and how it endured. creating an overall anti-war message. the poem.
Literary Extended Metaphor – Across the Elaborate metaphors – Armitage also uses elaborate
Devices poem, Armitage uses the extended metaphors to describe his injuries. ‘Damaged porcelain
metaphor of a ‘manhunt’ to describe the collar-bone’ and ‘the parachute silk of his punctured
wife’s actions as she tries to find the lung’. These are very fragile materials but also desirable
man she once knew in the war-torn and quite rich, thus we see both how precious and how
soldier. Armitage uses verbs such as fragile human life is. Furthermore, they achieve the effect
“explore”, “skirting along”, “widened of making the soldier seem less human, objectifying him
the search” to achieve this. through these metaphors, making him seem less alive.
Repetition – Armitage repeats “only Imagery – Armitage uses imagery of a battlefield to
then” to emphasise how finding the man describe mental scarring, depicting an “unexploded
the soldier once was is a slow process, mine” – this hooks readers as by describing it as
highlighting how the suffering he went “unexploded” it creates an inevitability of eventual
through has fractured their relationship. destruction. “Sweating” shows it as an issue the soldier
However, she only ever comes “close” very much still suffers with, using a gerund which places
showing he never fully recuperated. it in the present and something that is continuous.
Key “Passionate nights and intimate days” “Foetus of metal” juxtaposes birth and death, and
Language is indicative this poem is written from symbolises how the embedded bullet in his body will
the perspective of a lover. grow to have repercussions, but also throws a romantic
light on the relationship of the husband and wife.
“Frozen river which ran through his “Trace”, “mind” and “attend” contribute to the intimacy
face” – the adjective of frozen makes of the scene, connoting the careful and gentle action of the
him seem cold and detached but also wife. It also implies she is patient in the way she deals
inoperative. This symbolises a with her husband’s injuries. They’re also quite tentative
metaphorical mask for his emotions. verbs, showing how she is afraid of hurting him.
Form and Irregular line length connotes the Written in a series of rhyming couplets, however not
Meter fragmented and disjointed, reflecting always regular and often half-rhymes, making it seem
how the man is deeply injured. fragmented and imperfect.
Structure Throughout the poem we see the continuous progression of the soldier’s healing progress as the wife
is slowly permitted to explore more and more of his body in each stanza; by the end she widens the
search “to its source” but only “come[s] close”.
Armitage captures the intimacy of the poem through using “and” a lot to draw out the form, using
enjambment so stanzas are rarely end-stopped to create a continuous and steady pace, reflecting the
slow progress of the soldier’s healing.
Compare She Walks in Beauty by Lord Byron Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
s with…
Quotations to remember
After the first phase; only then he would let me trace
after passionate nights and intimate days, the frozen river which ran through his face
...explore… blown hinge of his lower jaw, and mind and attend
…and handle and hold the fractured rudder of his shoulder blade,
The damaged, porcelain collar-bone. … parachute silk of his punctured lung.
Skirting along, Then I widened the search,
… the foetus of metal beneath his chest traced the scarring back to its source
to a sweating, unexploded mine Then, and only then, did I come close.
buried deep in his mind…
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