Eac Each guided poetry lesson will cover a different poem from the 17 in the anthology. It is important to remember that you will NOT be allowed to take your annotated anthology in to the exam.

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The Manhunt by Simon Armitage Poem 1. The Manhunt by Simon Armitage

After the first phase, after passionate nights and intimate days, only then would he let me trace the frozen river which ran through his face, only then would he let me explore the blown hinge of his lower jaw and handle and hold the damaged, porcelain collar bone, and mind and attend the fractured rudder of shoulder-blade, and finger and thumb the parachute silk of his punctured lung. Only then could I bind the struts and climb the rungs of his broken ribs, and feel the hurt of his grazed heart. Skirting along, only then could I picture the scan, the foetus of metal beneath his chest where the bullet had come to rest. Then I widened the search, traced the scarring back to its source to a sweating, unexploded mine buried deep in his mind, around which every nerve in his body had tightened and closed. Then, and only then, did I come close.

AO3 – Contextual Introduction. ‘The Manhunt’ is sometimes referred to as ‘Laura’s poem.’ This is because Simon Armitage wrote the poem for a documentary called Forgotten Heroes: The Not Dead in which the lives of injured returning soldiers was explored. ‘The Manhunt’ is read by Laura, the wife of Eddie Beddoes, a soldier who served as a peace keeper in Bosnia before being discharged due to injury and depression. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGX4vwXvek4 this is a link to a video of an edited segment from the documentary in which Laura reads the poem.

AO2 – What type of words are ‘passionate’ and ‘intimate’? AO1 -What does the second line tell us about the narrator’s relationship with the soldier in the hospital bed? AO2 – What type of words are ‘passionate’ and ‘intimate’? How do they help present their relationship? After the first phase, after passionate nights and intimate days, only then would he let me trace the frozen river which ran through his face, AO1 – Why does the narrator say ‘only then’, what is stopping her? AO2 – The narrator says ‘frozen river’, what technique is this and what does she mean? AO1 – What does the last line tell you about the soldier’s injuries?

AO2 – What type of word is ‘explore?’ AO1 – What does it tell us about what is happening? AO2 – Look at the phrase ‘handle and hold.’ What do these two words tell us about how the narrator is behaving? only then would he let me explore the blown hinge of his lower jaw and handle and hold the damaged, porcelain collar bone, AO1 and AO2 – How are the soldier’s injuries described in this section? How do you respond to them? How do they make you feel?

AO1 – Think back to ‘handle and hold’ in the previous section, how does the phrase ‘mind and attend’ link back to it? AO2 – ‘Fractured rudder’ – what is a rudder? What would happen if it was fractured? Why does the narrator use this technique? and mind and attend the fractured rudder of shoulder-blade, and finger and thumb the parachute silk of his punctured lung. AO1 and AO2 – Again, think back to ‘handle and hold’ and ‘mind and attend’ – why does the narrator keep using phrases like this? AO2 – The soldier’s lung is described as ‘parachute silk’, what effect does this have? Why has the narrator chosen this phrase?

STOP! Time to think about AO2 – Structure… When thinking about structure, you should ask yourself the following questions: How are the stanzas ordered? Is there a rhyme scheme? How does the poem begin and how does it end? What type of poem is it? Two line stanzas are called couplets. There isn’t a regular rhyme scheme, only some couplets rhyme. Begins with a memory of their relationship, ends with the reality of their new relationship. This poem is a lyric poem. A lyric poem is defined as a poem where the narrator reveals strong emotions/thoughts and feelings.

AO2 – The narrator says ‘bind the struts’, what does bind mean AO2 – The narrator says ‘bind the struts’, what does bind mean? What are its connotations? AO1 and AO2 – The narrator refers to ribs ‘rungs’, why does she do this? What techniques is it? Only then could I bind the struts and climb the rungs of his broken ribs, and feel the hurt of his grazed heart. AO1 and AO2 – Look at the words in the last two lines, which words stand out? Why?

AO1 – After looking at the changes to his body, why does the picture of the scan change things? Skirting along, only then could I picture the scan, the foetus of metal beneath his chest where the bullet had come to rest. AO1 and AO2 – What are the connotations of the word foetus? What happens when we add the word ‘metal’ to it? AO2 – ‘the bullet had come to rest’ – what technique is this? Why is it used?

AO1 – Why does the narrator have to ‘widen the search?” AO2 – There is a lot of repetition of the ‘S’ sound in the first few lines. What effect does this create? AO2 – What the narrator mean when she uses the metaphor ‘unexploded mine buried deep in his mind?’ Then I widened the search, traced the scarring back to its source to a sweating, unexploded mine buried deep in his mind, around which every nerve in his body had tightened and closed. Then, and only then, did I come close. AO1 – The narrator says that his nerves have ‘tightened and closed’, what does she mean? AO1 – What does the last line mean? What has she ‘come close’ to?

AO3 – Contextual Reflection. Armitage never served as a soldier, writing poetry was as close as he came to the battlefield. He once said: ‘Never having been to the front line, turning the words, phrases and experiences of these soldiers into verse has been the closest I've ever come to writing “real” war poetry, and as close as I ever want to get.’ Why do you think he chose to write about this topic? Why choose a very personal story, rather than one about war in general? Armitage said he wanted to write about the “experiences of these soldiers.” How has he done that? How do you think Armitage would want the reader to feel after reading this poem?

Definition/questions: If you want to analyse the poems yourself, then you could use SPIRIT… Key letter: Definition/questions: S Structure – how are the stanzas ordered? Beginning and end? P Poetic devices – Enjambment? Repetition? Symbolism? Cacophony? Alliteration? I Imagery – Similes? Metaphors? Adjectives? Adverbs? Hyperbole? Oxymoron? Contrast? Connotation? R Rhythm & Rhyme – Can you spot rhythm? Where? When? Why is it used? Same for rhyme… Ideas – What is the poem about? What does the writer/narrator think and feel? How do you feel? T Tone of voice – What is the narrator’s tone of voice? Is it harsh, or is it sad? Why? What effect does this have?