2. Studying Poems: SLIC Structure Language Imagery Content
Identifying SLIC in each of the poems will help you understand how the poet makes the reader understand what the poem is about …
techniques used in writing poems are also referred to as poetic devices

3. Structure and Form: Form = the type of poem it is:
ballad
sonnet
free form
first person narrative
dramatic monologue
elegy
Structure = the order and arrangement of ideas and events in the poem:
number of lines
length of sentences
number of verses/stanzas
use of punctuation
rhyming schemes
organisation of lines: couplets

4. Language and Imagery:
Imagery = techniques used to create pictures/sounds in your head:
simile
metaphor
personification
alliteration
assonance
onomatopoeia
Language = word choices and how they effect the reader:
adjectives
emotive
colloquial
oxymoron

5. Content:
A description of what the poem is about; the ‘story’ of the poem
The context of the poem; what was important and/or happening at the time the poem was written

6. Themes: Idea or topic which runs throughout a a piece of writing:
An idea or topic important to the poem; e.g. the poem is based on the theme of love

7. Poetic Devices: Structure
Number and length of stanzas; breaks in poem for emphasis, shorter stanzas, equal length of stanzas etc.
Repetition
Length of line/sentence structure/enjambment (where a sentence runs over a line or a stanza break)
Split in poem – not necessarily indicated by new stanza
Beginnings and endings
Punctuation
Rhythm
Juxtaposition: creates a contrast
Language
Metaphor: strong comparison; something is described as being something else.
Simile: comparison; something is described as being like something else.
Personification: strong comparison; give something human characteristics.
Emotive Language: choice of strong words to show or create emotion.
Sound: alliteration/assonance/onomatopoeia; used to give emphasis to the ideas behind the image.
Rhyme

8. A strong relationship can survive anything...

9. External events and experiences can have a huge impact on a relationship…

10. Intimacy is purely physical...

11. Anything that affects on person in a relationship will have an effect the other person...

12. Physical injury is easier to overcome than mental injury...

13. Partners should stick together “in sickness and in health”...

14. In any relationship, the man is always strong than the woman...

15. ‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage
True or false?
the poem is written in the first person?

16. ‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage
True or false:
the poem is written in the first person?
true!

17. ‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage
True or false?
the poem is written from the point of view of the soldier?

18. ‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage
True or false:
the poem is written from the point of view of the soldier?
false!
it is written from the point of view of his wife: Laura

19. ‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage
True or false?
the poem is written in 13 stanzas?

20. ‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage
True or false:
the poem is written in 13 stanzas?
true!

21. ‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage
True or false?
the poem is about the breakdown of a relationship?

22. ‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage
True or false:
the poem is about the breakdown of a relationship?
false!
the poem is about how Laura is trying to save her marriage

23. ‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage
True or false?
the poem uses language which shows how passionate and caring the two people are?

24. ‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage
True or false:
the poem uses language which shows how passionate and caring the two people are?
true!
e.g. words like ‘passionate’ ‘intimate’ and ‘trace’ show how close they are
how much they love each other …

25. ‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage
True or false:
the poem uses metaphors to describe the soldier’s injuries?

26. ‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage
True or false:
the poem uses metaphors to describe the soldier’s injuries?
true!
e.g. ‘the parachute silk of his punctured lung’ and ‘a sweating unexploded
mine’ are both metaphors

27. ‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage
True or false?
the poem is written in couplets?

28. ‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage
True or false:
the poem is written in couplets?
true!
two lines linked together through topic and rhyme is called a couplet:
e.g.
‘the foetus of metal beneath his chest
where the bullet had finally come to rest’

29. ‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage
True or false?
the poem is really about his physical injuries?

30. ‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage
True or false:
the poem is really about his physical injuries?
false!
although the poem describes Eddie’s physical injuries in a lot of detail, the problem
they are really having is with the ‘unexploded mine’ in Eddie’s mind: the injuries
Laura cannot see or understand …

31. The Manhunt
By Simon Armitage

32. 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,

33. only then would he let me explore
the blown hinge of his lower jaw,
and handle and hold
the damaged, porcelain collar-bone,

34. and mind and attend
the fractured rudder of shoulder-blade,
and finger and thumb
the parachute silk of his punctured lung.

35. Only then could I bind the struts
and climb the rungs of his broken ribs,
and feel the hurt
of his grazed heart.

36. Skirting along,
only then could I picture the scan,
the foetus of metal beneath his chest
where the bullet had finally come to rest.

37. Then I widened the search,
traced the scarring back to its source
to a sweating, unexploded mine
buried deep in his mind, around which

38. every nerve in his body had tightened and closed.
Then, and only then, did I come close.

39. What does ‘The Manhunt’ have to say about relationships?

40. Love Poem or War Poem
Love
War
‘passionate nights’

41. WRITING ABOUT POETRY
USING P.E.E.

42. Point P E E Evidence Explain
When writing about any text you should always use the PEE structure: make a Point; find some Evidence; Explain the evidence in detail
Point
P E E
Evidence
Explain

43. Poetic Devices used in Manhunt
point
evidence
effect
Metaphor
(Imagery)
‘the frozen river which runs through his face’
Alliteration
(Language)
Repetition
(Structure)

44. Turning the information into a paragraph (1):
point
evidence
effect
In ‘The Manhunt’ the poet Simon Armitage makes us realise how war can cause great physical and emotional hurt to soldiers and the people who love them:
‘only then would he let me trace/the frozen river which ran through his face’
Armitage uses language which shows that the soldier is cold and unemotional when he first returns from war. The ‘frozen river’ describes the way the scar looks on his face, but the metaphor also describes the difficulty Eddie feels when trying to connect with his wife after he returns from the war.

45. Turning the information into a paragraph (2):
Point
In ‘The Manhunt’ the poet Simon Armitage makes us realise how war
can cause great physical and emotional hurt to soldiers and the people
who love them:
‘only then would he let me trace/the frozen river which ran through his face’
Armitage uses language which shows that the soldier is cold and
unemotional when he first returns from war. The ‘frozen river’
the way the scar looks on his face, but the metaphor also describes
difficulty Eddie feels when trying to connect with his wife after
returns from the war.
Evidence
Explanation

46. Now you find some examples of poetic devices and using the grid/whiteboards practice PEE-ing
point
evidence
effect
Metaphor
(Imagery)
Alliteration
(Language)
Repetition
(Structure)

47. Turn your PEE paragraphs into part 1 of a CA on poetry: remember SLIC?
Introduction
Introduce the poem ‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage by giving a brief
account of what it is about – i.e. its content
Using your PEE grids write a paragraph about:
structure (repetition)
language (alliteration)
imagery (metaphor)
If you feel confident you could write about other devices we have discussed … in
your explanations remember to refer to the relationship between the soldier and
his wife who narrates the poem.
Write a final paragraph which sums up the main ideas in the poem –
remember we talked a lot about PTSD – ‘the unexploded mine’
3 PEE Paragraphs
Conclude