Remains Flashcards
What happens in remains?
3 soldiers have to clear a bank being looted
A man ran out (possibly armed) and they shot him
His blood stain remained on the ground and the soldier is reminded by it
Soldier returns home and has PTSD from the event
Context of remains
Taken from anthology ‘not dead’ by Armitage, collection of poems from discharged soldiers
About guardsman who was machine gunner in Iraq War (true story)
Felt extreme guilt leading to substance abuse and crime
What does this poem want to outline?
After affects of conflict
Explores domestic life and conflict zones contrast
About the horros of war
Structure at beginning of remains
‘On another occasion’
Chaotic and uneasy
starts mid action, something happened before
Reflects lack of ease soldiers felt when joining war: don’t know what to expect and out of their control
Repetition in remains at the start
‘Myself and somebody else and somebody else’
‘’All 3 of us open fire/ 3 of a kind all letting fly”
Effect of repetition at the start
Used to deflect blame not just to him as the sentence is dominated by the other people structurally
Repetition at the end
‘His bloody life in my bloody hands’
Effect of repetition at the end
Marks a shift that he has to take responsibility
He has to deal with it alone once discharged
Enjambment
‘Three of a kind all letting fly, and I swear
I see every round as it rips through his life’
Effect of enjambment
Whole stanza break show turning point for soldiers life when his trauma starts
Caesura
‘Then I’m home on leave. But I blink’
Effect of caesura
Full stop shows finality of the whole situation
Perhaps he has hope it will be finished
However then explained this isn’t true, as he develops PTSD at home
Cyclical structure
‘Probably armed, possibly not’
At the start and at the end
Effect of cyclical structure
Represents how the soldier has to relive the same trauma: it’s not escapable
Use of the title
‘Remains’ = all that’s left of something
The soldier has been used for war and now he is a shell of his former self (only his remains)
‘Blood-shadow’ remains of the looter and the memories in his head
Colloquial
‘Legs it up the road’
‘One of my mates’
Effects of colloquial language
Shows how desensitised violence is to soldiers since now it’s their every day experience
Juxtaposition
‘Pain itself, the image of agony/ One of my mates goes by and tosses his guts back into his body’
Effects of juxtaposition
Shows violent emotive lang alongside casual and every day slang
Reflects difference between carefree soldier before and traumatised after
Vague language
‘Sort of inside out’
Effect of vague language
Doesn’t even have the vocabulary to describe such a horrific image
Despite army training he as a human still can’t bare the sight
Use of the verb ‘tosses’
Shows the treatment of the looter as garbage
As if the person is a bin man disposing trash
Now human life is worthless to soldiers
Use of the verb ‘flush’
Soldier is now dirty and has to cleanse himself with drink and drugs
Use of ‘dug in behind enemy lines’
Using war terminology
Even in his domestic life, conflict has invaded him in every way including vocabulary
Sibilance
‘Some diStant, Sun-Stunned, Sand-Smothered land’
Effect of sibilance
Sand and sun are positive things but turn sinister using violent verbs
Shows how the soldier experiences everything bad now
‘Bloody life in my bloody hands’
Reference to Macbeth?
Lady Macbeth has reoccurring delusions of blooded hands, perhaps shows guilt of the soldier
How does this poem link to others?
War photographer = war and domestic life clashes
