2.4.9 Remains Flashcards
Poet
Simon Armitage
Theme Code
FLESH-CDV
Themes
Memory, Individual Experience, Loss and Absence, Conflict in Domestic Life, Negative Emotion of Guilt, Reality of Conflict, Effects of Conflict, Vulnerability
Quotes
- ‘Myself and somebody else and somebody else’, ‘all the same mind’,
‘all three of us open fire’, ‘three of a kind’ - ‘Tosses his guts’
- ‘End of story, but not really… his blood-shadow stays on the street’
- ‘Probably armed, possibly not’
- ‘And the drink and drugs won’t flush him out’
- ‘His bloody life in my bloody hands’
Main Structural Points
- Enjambment
- Caesura
- Mid-action start
Explain the quote ‘End of story, but not really… his blood-shadow stays on the street’
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The job is done and so it should be the end – it is not because it haunts the soldier from this point on. Just like how the blood has stained the street, death stains a person’s conscience and memory. He is haunted by the memory and there is no escape.
Explain the quote ‘Myself and somebody else and somebody else’, ‘all the same mind’, ‘all three of us open fire’, ‘three of a kind’
Repetition
Repetition - deflect blame from the speaker alone, he wants to make it clear that others were involved. Syntactically, the line becomes dominated by the others, suggesting the speaker attempting to minimise the role he took in the event. He constantly mentions ‘all’ and ‘three’ emphasising it was a joint act of killing the looter.
Quotes for the Main Structural Point
- ‘On another occasion, we get sent out’
- ‘I’m home on leave. But’
- ‘Three of a kind all letting fly, and I swear…. I see every round as it rips through his life’
Simplified Main Structural Point
Mid-action start and causes confusion, the reader does not know what is going on like how soldiers don’t know what’s going on in the conflict. More than one occasion of traumatic experiences. Enjambment used to break line reflects broken soldier and realisation. Caesura used to show it should be finalised but it isn’t, this memory will last forever.
Main Structural Point
Armitage begins the poem with ‘on another occasion, we get sent out’. The reader is immediately brought into the poem mid-action which causes confusion and they initially do not know what is going on. This mirror the confusion the soldier is feeling as they are not emotionally prepared for what will come next. The use of ‘another’ suggests this is one of many other memories that add to his trauma. This could be Armitage making a societal comment suggesting just like the reader who is placed into a situation they do not know what is going on like how soldiers, like the one in the poem, are not fully aware and do not fully understand what is going on when placed in situations of conflict but they are still required to perform their duties, leading to trauma. The reality is that soldiers have to deal with this on a daily basis. Soldiers are expected to deal with repeated exposure to suffering and horror without anyone’s help. Enjambment takes place all around the poem, but in one case the sentence does not just continue onto the next line, but rather the next stanza. ‘Three of a kind all letting fly, and I swear… I see every round as it rips through his life’. This forced break of the line and stanza reflects the broken man, his life changed after this tragic event. Armitage also uses caesura which should provide finality to the situation, the soldier is now at home on leave and this should be the end of this memory, he is away from the place that gave him a constant reminder of the stain and warzone. ‘I’m home on leave. But…’ Although caesura tells us there is no end to this memory, suffering or trauma. The soldier will always be haunted no matter where he is. The mid-action start, caesura, enjambment and the lack of rhyme and poetic metre, create this confusing, and uncontrolled structure giving us the message, that conflict leads soldiers to be confused, uncontrolled and traumatised even when they are away from the battlefield,, even at a comforting place like home.
