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

Structure and Form:

• 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

• Form = the type of poem it is:

• ballad

• sonnet

• free form

• first person narrative

• dramatic monologue

• elegy

Language and Imagery:

• Language = word choices and how they effect the reader:

• adjectives• emotive• colloquial• oxymoron

• Imagery = techniques used to create pictures/sounds in your head:

• simile• metaphor• personification• alliteration• assonance• onomatopoeia

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

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

Poetic Devices: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

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

A strong relationship can

survive anything...

External events and experiences can

have a huge impact on a relationship…

Intimacy is purely

physical...

Anything that affects on person in a

relationship will have an effect the other

person...

Physical injury is easier to

overcome than mental injury...

Partners should stick together “in sickness and in

health”...

In any relationship, the man is always

strong than the woman...

‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage

• True or false?

• the poem is written in the first person?

‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage

• True or false:

• the poem is written in the first person?

‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage

• True or false?

• the poem is written from the point of view of the soldier?

‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage

• True or false:

• the poem is written from the point of view of the soldier?

it is written from the point of view of his wife: Laura

‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage

• True or false?

• the poem is written in 13 stanzas?

‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage

• True or false:

• the poem is written in 13 stanzas?

‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage

• True or false?

• the poem is about the breakdown of a relationship?

‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage

• True or false:

• the poem is about the breakdown of a relationship?

the poem is about how Laura is trying to save her marriage

‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage

• True or false?

• the poem uses language which shows how passionate and caring the two people are?

‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage

• True or false:

• the poem uses language which shows how passionate and caring the two people are?

e.g. words like ‘passionate’ ‘intimate’ and ‘trace’ show how close they arehow much they love each other …

‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage

• True or false:

• the poem uses metaphors to describe the soldier’s injuries?

‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage

• True or false:

• the poem uses metaphors to describe the soldier’s injuries?

e.g. ‘the parachute silk of his punctured lung’ and ‘a sweating unexplodedmine’ are both metaphors

‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage

• True or false?

• the poem is written in couplets?

‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage

• True or false:

• the poem is written in couplets?

two lines linked together through topic and rhyme is called a couplet:e.g.‘the foetus of metal beneath his chestwhere the bullet had finally come to rest’

‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage

• True or false?

• the poem is really about his physical injuries?

‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage

• True or false:

• the poem is really about his physical injuries?

although the poem describes Eddie’s physical injuries in a lot of detail, the problemthey are really having is with the ‘unexploded mine’ in Eddie’s mind: the injuriesLaura cannot see or understand …

The Manhunt

By Simon Armitage

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.

What does ‘The Manhunt’ have to say about

relationships?

Love Poem or War Poem

Love War

‘passionate nights’

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

Poetic Devices used in Manhuntpoint evidence effect

Metaphor

(Imagery)

‘the frozen river which runs through his face’

Alliteration

(Language)

Repetition

(Structure)

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.

Turning the information into a paragraph (2):

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.

Point

Evidence

Explanation

Now you find some examples of poetic devices and using the grid/whiteboards practice PEE-ingpoint evidence effect

Metaphor

(Imagery)

Alliteration

(Language)

Repetition

(Structure)

Turn your PEE paragraphs into part 1 of a CA on poetry:

remember SLIC?Introduce the poem ‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage by giving a briefaccount 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 … inyour explanations remember to refer to the relationship between the soldier andhis 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’

Introduction

3 PEE Paragraphs

Conclude