Manhunt

• The Manhunt


  A poem written from the perspective of the wife of a soldier who has sustained serious injuries at war and has returned home
• The Manhunt


  • Explores the physical and mental effects of living with injuries sustained when on active service in the armed forces
• Title 'The Manhunt'


  Suggests a chase or searching for something or that he is lost
• Images in the poem


  • Delicate materials "porcelain" and "silk" suggests beauty and vulnerability
  • Broken body parts "grazed heart", "broken ribs" suggests human casualties of war and the vulnerability of mind and body
  • Pain still growing mentally and physically "foetus of metal" and "unexploded mine" suggests potential to still explode or permanent scarring
• Final words "only then did I come close"


  Suggests it is a journey through his pain and healing and their reconciliation as a couple. She is finally closer to 'catching him'
• Structure of the poem


  • Organised into couplets. Initially these couplets rhyme ("first phase... intimate days"), perhaps reflecting the couple's harmony when they were first reunited. However, as the poem progresses the rhyme scheme falters, reflecting the increasingly disjointed nature of their relationship
• Possible themes and links


  • War and its lasting effects-Mametz Wood, A Wife in London and Dulce et Decorum Est
  • Relationships and love-Cary Apelagis and A Wife in London
  • Suffering (mental and physical)-Mametz Wood and Dulce et Decorum Est