1. Remains - Simon Armitage Flashcards
The first line shows how frequently violent things happen to the soldier.
“On another occasion…”
The graphic imagery shows how the soldier has been desensitized to conflict.
“Tosses his guts back into his body”
The caesura shows how the soldier can’t stop the trauma from coming back to haunt him.
“End of story. Except not really.”
The final line is a metaphor that uses repetition to emphasise the guilt that the soldier feels.
“His bloody life in my bloody hands.”
What is the context of Remains?
The poem is part of the collection ‘The Not Dead’ about real soldiers involved in conflicts today. Armitage wants to show how soldiers today, not just those from the past, suffer and make sacrifices in conflict.
What is the structure of Remains?
Remains is written in a first person conversational style, and uses lots of colloquial language, such as ‘mates’ ‘tosses’ and ‘legs it’. We could assume the soldier is talking to a friends or he could be talking to a psychologist to seek help with his mental health as a result of war.
The soldier speaks with a tone of regret as he thinks over the situation, the repetition of this line emphasises how much the event plays on his mind and the guilt that he can’t get rid of.
“Probably armed, possibly not.”
The title ‘Remains’
The ambiguous title refers to the remains of the soldier, but is also about the mental scars and trauma left as a result of the event.
