Student presentation

2. CONTENT
The poem is based around a documentary by Simon Armitage who was
finding out more about post-traumatic stress it was called ‘The
forgotten heroes’.
The poem The Manhunt is based around a soldier who has sustained some
serious injuries at war. The poem is written from the perspective of his
wife who is trying to understand the mental and physical effects of
what has happened – ‘then I widened the search ,traced the scarring
back to its source’
It is based around the idea that soldiers can get post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD).
The soldier has been shot and the bullet has left a trail his wife is trying to
follow the trail to find the problem which is his mind he is ready to
‘explode’
But the soldier is trying to hide his mental injuries.as a soldier he is
supposed to be seen as strong and he doesn’t want to come across as
weak.

3. LANGUAGE
Use of words like “trace” and “explore” in the context of the narrator’s
husband implies that she is no longer familiar with him.
The poet uses a lot of words like “mind” and “attend”. These are related to
medical attention and therefore suggests that the wife is attempting to
mentally heal her husband.
The title puns on the idea of the 'manhunt', meaning literally a hunt to
capture a man, often a criminal. Here the wife's search is for the
husband she knew so well but who seems lost to her, metaphorically,
after his experiences at war.

4. IMAGERY
The poet uses a series of metaphors that are written in single lines: 'The
blown hinge of his lower jaw'; 'And climb the rungs of his broken ribs'.
But the end of the poem is different in that 'a sweating, unexploded
mine' is really an image in his memory. Going through his physical
injuries she begins to understand him but it is only when she explores
the fear in his mind that, 'Then, and only then, did I come close.' It is
metaphors used in mostly single poetic lines that the poet uses to
describe how the wife becomes so close to her husband.
The images it creates in my mind is a man who has been injured at war and
is scarred physically and mentally his wife the poet is trying to find the
problem which is buried deep in his mind but first she has to follow the
path that has been left.

5. STRUCTURE
The poem is made up of 13 couplets, many of which do not rhyme.
This makes the poem seem fragmented, similar to the mental
state of the injured soldier.
The poem describes the phases of a wife's search for answers
from her injured husband who has recently returned from a war
zone. The poem ends when the search is brought to a close.

6. MEANING/MESSAGE
The manhunt is about the patience and care of love. The wife in the poem is
methodical and thorough in her search, exploring her husband's injured
body with love and care.
The poem also explores the effects of war on those in the armed services.
The man has a “grazed heart” , whether this is literal or metaphorical is not
clear.
The image of the metal bullet still inside him as a "foetus" suggests that,
like having a baby, the couple's relationship will be forever changed by
what he has gone through.