Remains

What is the overview of Remains?

About a soldier who is haunted by the remains of his killings

Who is the author of Remains?

Simon Armitage

Give me contextual points about Simon Armitage

• Uses colloquial language to engage readers

• Is poet laureate

Give me contextual points about Remains

• From his collection of poems called “The not dead”

• The account of a british soldier in the iraq war

What is the form of Remains + its effects

• Regular quatrains + last stanza is 2 lines

  • Shows how he feels guilt and can’t finish his words

• Dramatic monologue

  • A traumatic account from memory

Language Quote 1

“_____ armed, _____ ____" x__

“Possibly armed, possibly not” x2

Repetition throughout the poem emphasises how the narrator is wracked with doubt and guilt as to if the man was ever a threat

Use of it at the beginning of the poem and at the end highlights that his guilt is the crux of his suffering

Language Quote 2

“His ____ _____ stays on ___ ____”

“His blood shadow stays on the street”

Motif of blood throughout the poem emphasises guilt but also the grievous psychological harm of the soldiers

Language Quote 3

“And the ____ and the ____ won’t ___ him ____”

“And the drinks and the drugs won’t flush him out”

Metaphor for the constant stain of guilt in his conscience

“Flush” connotes to removal of waste

Language Quote 4

“His ____ ____ in my ____ ____”

“His bloody life in my bloody hands”

Refers to the literal blood from the barbaric death or use of colloquial language “bloody” to highlight his regret

Hands symbolise regret as seen in Macbeth

Language Quote 5

“I ____ every ____ as it ____ through his ____”

“I see every round as it rips through his life”

Metaphor emphasises the gruesome nature of war and the devastating impacts on both parties

Violent imagery, does not romanticise war

Structure Quote 1

• Volta — “End of story except not really”

  Shift in time, back to the present

Structure Quote 2

Media Res

Serves to confuse the reader, mirrors the confusion of the soldiers who are not emotionally prepared for what will come after leaving the war zone

What is the key idea of Remains?

Raising awareness of PTSD impacting soldiers + although they have left conflict physically, they have bought it with them mentally