Studying Poems: SLIC
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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:
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ballad
sonnet
free form
first person narrative
dramatic monologue
elegy
Language and Imagery:
• Language = word
choices and how they
effect the reader:
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adjectives
emotive
colloquial
oxymoron
• Imagery = techniques
used to create
pictures/sounds in your
head:
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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:
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Number and length of stanzas;
breaks in poem for emphasis, shorter
stanzas, equal length of stanzas etc.
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Repetition
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Personification: strong comparison;
give something human
characteristics.
Length of line/sentence
structure/enjambment (where a
sentence runs over a line or a stanza
break)
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Split in poem – not necessarily
indicated by new stanza
Emotive Language: choice of strong
words to show or create emotion.
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Beginnings and endings
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Punctuation
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Rhythm
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Juxtaposition: creates a contrast
Language
• Metaphor: strong comparison;
something is described as being
something else.
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Structure
Simile: comparison; something is
described as being like something
else.
Sound:
alliteration/assonance/onomatopoeia;
used to give emphasis to the ideas
behind the image.
Rhyme
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
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True or false?
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the poem is written in the first person?
‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage
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True or false:
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the poem is written in the first person?
‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage
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True or false?
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the poem is written from the point of view of the
soldier?
‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage
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True or false:
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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
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True or false?
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the poem is written in 13 stanzas?
‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage
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True or false:
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the poem is written in 13 stanzas?
‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage
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True or false?
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the poem is about the breakdown of a
relationship?
‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage
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True or false:
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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
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True or false?
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the poem uses language which shows how
passionate and caring the two people are?
‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage
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True or false:
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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 are
how much they love each other …
‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage
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True or false:
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the poem uses metaphors to describe the
soldier’s injuries?
‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage
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True or false:
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the poem uses metaphors to describe the
soldier’s injuries?
e.g. ‘the parachute silk of his punctured lung’ and ‘a sweating unexploded
mine’ are both metaphors
‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage
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True or false?
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the poem is written in couplets?
‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage
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True or false:
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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 chest
where the bullet had finally come to rest’
‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage
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True or false?
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the poem is really about his physical injuries?
‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage
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True or false:
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the poem is really about his physical injuries?
although the poem describes Eddie’s physical injuries in a lot of detail, the problem
they are really having is with the ‘unexploded mine’ in Eddie’s mind: the injuries
Laura 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
‘passionate nights’
War
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 Manhunt
point
evidence
Metaphor
(Imagery)
‘the frozen river which
runs through his face’
Alliteration
(Language)
Repetition
(Structure)
effect
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):
Point
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:
Evidence
‘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.
Explanation
Now you find some examples of poetic devices
and using the grid/whiteboards practice PEE-ing
point
Metaphor
(Imagery)
Alliteration
(Language)
Repetition
(Structure)
evidence
effect
Turn your PEE paragraphs into part 1 of a CA on poetry:
remember SLIC?
Introduction
Introduce the poem ‘The Manhunt’ by Simon Armitage by giving a brief
account of what it is about – i.e. its content
3 PEE Paragraphs
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 … in
your explanations remember to refer to the relationship between the soldier and
his wife who narrates the poem.
Conclude
Write a final paragraph which sums up the main ideas in the poem –
remember we talked a lot about PTSD – ‘the unexploded mine’