The Manhunt is written from the
perspective of the wife of a soldier who
has sustained serious injuries at war and
has returned home. The poem explores
the physical and mental effects of living
with injuries sustained when on active
service in the armed forces.
The poem is made up of a series of
couplets, mostly unrhymed. This creates a
sense of fragmentation, which matches
the feelings of the soldier's wife as she
seeks to understand the man her husband
has become.
Quickdraw
Carol Ann Duffy is the first female Poet
Laureate (2009), and probably the best
known female poet working in Britain
today. She was born in 1955 in
Glasgow. Duffy is well known for
poems that give a voice to the
dispossessed (people excluded from
society); she encourages the reader to
put themselves in the shoes of people
they might normally dismiss.
Quickdraw is a one-sided snapshot of
a relationship. The speaker of the poem
is waiting for contact from her lover.
The context of the relationship is
unclear, and we do not know if the
speaker welcomes contact or not. It
would appear that some sort of
disagreement or separation has
occurred before the events presented
in the poem.
Hour
Carol Ann Duffy is the first female Poet Laureate
(2009), and probably the best known female poet
working in Britain today. She was born in 1955 in
Glasgow. Duffy is well known for poems that give
a voice to the dispossessed (people excluded
from society); she encourages the reader to put
themselves in the shoes of people they might
normally dismiss.
Hour is about the feelings that arise from spending time with
a loved one. The poem suggests that to be with a loved one,
even for just an hour, is precious and valuable. It also
presents the traditional idea of time as an obstacle to lovers
Praise Song for My Mother
Grace Nichols was born in the Caribbean country of
Guyana (on the northern coast of South America) and
moved to the UK in the late 1970s. Her poetry takes
inspiration from her Caribbean heritage, folk tales, the
tradition of oral storytelling and her move between cultures.
The poem is based around the first three stanzas of three lines
each, which are very similar in format. The fourth stanza begins
in the same way as the first three but is extended, bringing
attention to the poem's final line about the daughter's expanding
horizons and moving towards "wide futures", as if reflecting the
way in which the mother's care for her has allowed her to
grow and move on.
Harmonium
Simon Armitage is famous for his use of
colloquial (every day, informal) language and
the inclusion of autobiographical material in
his poems. Family is an important topic for
Armitage, as is music. This poem combines
the two subjects.
The harmonium is a musical organ
(usually found in a church) that is played
using keys and foot pedals. The poem tells
the story of someone rescuing a
harmonium from being "bundled off to the
skip". The narrator needs the help of his
father to carry the instrument away from
the church.
Sonnet 116
As well as writing plays, William
Shakespeare is also remembered for his
poetry, especially sonnets. This poem is part
of Shakespeare's famous collection of
poems (a sonnet sequence), consisting of
154 poems. They are about topics such as
love and time. The structure of the poems
has become the popular format for the
sonnet, also called the Shakespearean
sonnet.
This poem is about love, not between
a speaker and his lover, but as a
concept or idea. The poem explores
what is meant by love, and proposes
that, if it is true, love is one of life's
constants which does not change with
time or circumstance.
Nettles.
Vernon Scannell was most famous as a war poet,
having fought in World War Two. His other poetry
also has echoes of his war experience, as in this
poem Nettles.
Nettles is about a child - Scannell had six
children - falling into a patch of nettles and
seeking comfort from his parents. The speaker
in the poem, after attending to his son's injuries
- sets about destroying the nettles, only for
them to return with the passing of just "two
weeks".