Remains

Question 1

Themes

Answer 1

• Effects of war
• Guilt

Question 2

Context/Structure

Answer 2

Context:
- Written by Simon Armitage from a perspective of a soldier
- Part of a collection of poems called “The Not Dead” - shows how common these occasions are and how many people go through these effects

Structure:
- no rhyme and the poem is a monologue - reflects chaos of war and gives an insight of the soldiers mind and having chaotic thoughts
- Use of enjambment and caesura - emphasises the natural speech patterns of the speaker + creates pauses.
- Use of colloquialism and personal pronouns - juxtaposes seriousness and realism of situation

Question 3

First quote

Answer 3

“On another occasion, we get sent out”

Question 4

First quote analysis

Answer 4

Media res:
- Killing so many people has made him numb and has normalised it to the soldier as it as an occasion like many others - it is casual
- He has been building up to this occasion and he has been avoiding it as it has a greatest effect on him
- Being deployed in war sounds like a punishment, war physically and mentally excludes the solider from their identity

Question 5

Second Quote

Answer 5

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

Question 6

Second quote analysis

Answer 6

Volta - Repetition - Metaphor - Alliteration:
- Moved from collective responsibility of “we” to individual responsibility of “I”, which makes the volta - he is cursing himself
- Repetition of “I see” shows that he has such a vivid image of looters death, as if he reliving the moment again
- Happens in present tense, showing that he cant rid of the memory as he keeps remembering it over and over again as if it is happening now
- Use of noun “round helps to create a sense of circularity, which is what’s happening in the poem as it is a repetitive thought. emphasising his cyclical structure
- We can infer that they didn’t only kill him but they touched every part of his life
- Trying to persuade the reader that mental illness and PTSD was real and that he wasn’t insane

Question 7

Quote three

Answer 7

“one of my mates goes by and tosses his guts back into his body”

Question 8

Third Quote analysis

Answer 8

Colloquialism - juxtaposition - sibilance - metaphor:
- Uses colloquial language to try to make the reader relate to him so it doesn’t seem as horrific of an action as it is + shows that he is trying to distance himself by not making the situation serious
- Juxtaposes the seriousness and horror of the situation
- Suggests that they are now treating this dead looter like an animal as he is now dead and no longer worthy of respect
- Sounds like a metaphor of being sick, alludes to that the soldier is feeling sick remembering the incident whereas at the time it was a casual moment

Question 9

Fourth quote

Answer 9

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

Question 10

Fourth quote analysis

Answer 10

Metaphor - repetition:
- He is equating his own actions with excrement he is very critical and it shows how disgusted he is at his old self showing his extreme guilt
- Can also be interpreted as him comparing the looter to excrement and that he sees this looter as nothing but excrement as a way to distance himself and give reason to his actions by making the looter ass like an obstacle
- Soldier has built an addiction from trying to escape this memory, representing all memories of war
- Armitage is using this soldiers experience to tell us that all soldiers go through PTSD and these memories remain with them when they return

Question 11

Fifth quote

Answer 11

“but near to the knuckle, hear and now, his bloody life in my bloody hands.”

Question 12

Fifth quote analysis

Answer 12

Discordance - Juxtaposition
- Ends with “hands”, rhymes with “land” and “sand”. Using a rhyming couplet describing the dead looter, however his own ending does not rhyme showing discordance (sounds do not fit)
shows his lack of control
- Literary allusion to bloody hands of Macbeth and lady Macbeth, blood is used to represent guilt in Macbeth. Used to suggest that the looters life was just as precious as the kings and that his consequence will be just as tragic as Macbeth’s
- Juxtaposes personal pronouns from the beginning of the poem as now he sees himself as guilty, gives him a motive to self destruction or suicide.
- Perhaps there is hope as he has now accepted his guilt and sees his actions as a problem and maybe now this attempt will be successful compared to his old attempts of drink and drugs
- Perhaps also Armitage is trying to suggest that by us going to war we causing self to destruction to humanity and civilisation as whole.