Context

• The Manhunt: Simon Armitage

  A modern poet who often writes about issues affecting society.
• The Manhunt: Narrative

  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 physcological injuries.
• Sonnet 43: Poem

  Written in 1850 as a apart of a series of 44 sonnet called Sonnet from the Portugese, the title based on her affectionate nickname for Robert Browning, her husband.
• Sonnet 43: Elizabeth Barrett Browning - Event

  She eloped to Italy to escape her father's disapproval and had a history of family issues.
• Sonnet 43: Elizabeth Barrett Browning - Religion

  Known for glorifying religion in her early work. She suffered with incapacitating illness throughout her life and as she aged she became disiluusioned.
• London: William Blake

  Born and lived in London. Blake was disillusioned with authoiryt and industrialisation and was highly critical of the Church of England for not doing enough.
• London: Poem

  Published as a part of an anthology in 1974 which was highly pessimistic alongside a contrasting optimistic anthology.
• The Soldier: Poem

  Written as a part of a series of poems titled 1914, written in 1914 when people shared a more idealistic and naive view about the war as no other war had been as bloody as this.
• The Soldier: Rupert Brooke

  Brooke died in 1915 from blood poisoning.
• She Walks in Beauty: Poem

  Written in 1813, during the Romantic period.
• She Walks in Beauty: Lord Byron

  Byron had a notorious reputation because of his wild behaviour and many affairs. He was regarded as 'mad, bad and dangerous to know'. He was forced to leave Britain and move to Europe.
• Living Space: Mumbai

  70% of Mumbai's population live in slums where there is limited electricity, clean water and food. Mumbai's slums are the largest in Asia and huts are often constructed of scrap materials.
• Living Space: Imtiaz Dharker

  Born in Pakistan and her poetry often focuses on religion, faith and culture.
• As Imperceptibly as Grief: Poem

  Was written around 1850 but wasn't published until 1886, posthumously.
• As Imperceptibly as Grief: Emily Dickinson

  Lived in New England America and was a reclusive, not leaving her house for nearly 30 years. Many of her poems were inspired by nature and often the passing of time.
• Cozy Apologia: Poem

  Written in 2003, but set against the backdrop of the arrival of Hurricane Floyd, a powerful hurricane that hit the east coast of the USA in 1999, killing many people and causing lots of damage.
• Cozy Apologia: Rita Dove


  Rita Dove is married to Fred Viabhan, a German writer, to whom the poem is addressed.
• Valentine: Poem


  Published in 1993.
• Valentine: Carol Ann Duffy


  She is the UK's first female Poet Laureate as well as the first one to be openly LGBT. Her poems often address themes of oppression and violence.
• A Wife in London: Poem

  Written in 1899, about the Boer war, fought in South Africa between 1880 and 1881.
• A Wife in London: London

  The poem talks abut the thick fog that was common to London in the late nineteenth century.
• A Wife in London: Thomas Hardy


  Thomas Hardy was an English poet and novelist who often focused on tragedy in his writing.
• Death of a Naturalist: Seamus Heaney


  An Irish poet who often wrote poems about Ireland, rural life and nature.
• Death of a Naturalist: Poem

  First published in 1966
• Death of a Naturalist: Flax

  Flax is a type of seed that grows on a plant that rots as it grows, giving off an awful odour.
• Hawk Roosting: Poem


  Published in 1960 as a part of a collection of poems about animals and nature.
• Hawk Roosting: Ted Hughes


  Studied archaeology and anthropology at Cambridge.
• Hawk Roosting: Controversy


  Controversial upon release as people compared it to a Fascist dictator, e.g. symbol of Nazism was an eagle standing on top of a wreath.
• To Autumn: John Keats


  A Romantic poet who was known for his sensual imagery, most notably in his odes. He was sick with tuberculosis which went on to kill him two years later. It had also taken the lives of his two brothers and his sister in law.
• To Autumn: Poem

  Written on an autumn evening in 1819 after Keats returned on a walk near Winchester.
• Afternoons: Poem

  Written in September 1959.
• Afternoons: Phillip Larkin


  English poet who lived from 1922 to 1982. He was famous for detailing observations of everyday life and relationships in poetry, often in a negative light. He never married, had children or travelled, and worked as a librarian in Hull for 30 years. He was thought to be sexist.
• Dulce et Decorum Est: Wilfred Owen


  Fought in WWI. Wilfred Owen died two days before the end of the war.
• Dulce et Decorum Est: Poem

  Written in 1918 but published posthumously.
• Ozymandias: Percy Bysshe Shelley


  One of the English Romantic poets. Shelley was though to be 'radical'.
• Ozymandias: Ozymandias

  The greek name for the Egyptian Pharaoh Rameses II who built extravagant temples to himself.
• Mametz Wood: Mametz Wood

  One of the bloodiest battles of WW1, killing almost 4000 soldiers, a great deal of which were the Welsh division. The bravery and sacrifice of these men was never fully acknowledged.
• The Prelude: William Wordsworth.


  William Wordsworth was born and lived in the Lake District and this background greatly influences his writing and appreciation of nature. One of the first romantic poets.
• The Prelude: Poem


  This extract is a part of the first part of the poem, titled 'Childhood'. The full poem is an autobiographical poem, often referred to as epic.