The Manhunt
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 finally 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.
I believe that Relationships are the connections between people which can be expressed in many different ways or situations. In the poem ‘manhunt’ by Simon Armitage he explores the relationship between a wife and her husband, whom is an injured solider who has returned from war. In nettles, the relationship is between a farther and his son who has fallen into a "bed of nettles." Both poets show the consideration felt by the reader of the poem for the other person in the relationship. In the manhunt, the narrator’s consideration is for the mental suffering which her husband is suffering. Similar to Manhunt; in ‘Nettles’ it is the father’s care for the injuries of his son which he feels was caused by the nettles.
Both poets use unusual imagery to present the writers family member as needing protection. In the man hunt instead of the obvious representation of a solider as strong and powerful, Laura’s husband is linked to fine, precious china, the damaged porcelain collar bone. This means he is described as fragile and precious because of his injuries, with his punctured lung
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 finally 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.
I believe that Relationships are the connections between people which can be expressed in many different ways or situations. In the poem ‘manhunt’ by Simon Armitage he explores the relationship between a wife and her husband, whom is an injured solider who has returned from war. In nettles, the relationship is between a farther and his son who has fallen into a "bed of nettles." Both poets show the consideration felt by the reader of the poem for the other person in the relationship. In the manhunt, the narrator’s consideration is for the mental suffering which her husband is suffering. Similar to Manhunt; in ‘Nettles’ it is the father’s care for the injuries of his son which he feels was caused by the nettles.
Both poets use unusual imagery to present the writers family member as needing protection. In the man hunt instead of the obvious representation of a solider as strong and powerful, Laura’s husband is linked to fine, precious china, the damaged porcelain collar bone. This means he is described as fragile and precious because of his injuries, with his punctured lung