Remains

Question 1

What happens in remains?

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Context of remains

Answer 2

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

Question 3

What does this poem want to outline?

Answer 3

After affects of conflict
Explores domestic life and conflict zones contrast
About the horros of war

Question 4

Structure at beginning of remains

Answer 4

‘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

Question 5

Repetition in remains at the start

Answer 5

‘Myself and somebody else and somebody else’
‘’All 3 of us open fire/ 3 of a kind all letting fly”

Question 6

Effect of repetition at the start

Answer 6

Used to deflect blame not just to him as the sentence is dominated by the other people structurally

Question 7

Repetition at the end

Answer 7

‘His bloody life in my bloody hands’

Question 8

Effect of repetition at the end

Answer 8

Marks a shift that he has to take responsibility
He has to deal with it alone once discharged

Question 9

Enjambment

Answer 9

‘Three of a kind all letting fly, and I swear

I see every round as it rips through his life’

Question 10

Effect of enjambment

Answer 10

Whole stanza break show turning point for soldiers life when his trauma starts

Question 11

Caesura

Answer 11

‘Then I’m home on leave. But I blink’

Question 12

Effect of caesura

Answer 12

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

Question 13

Cyclical structure

Answer 13

‘Probably armed, possibly not’
At the start and at the end

Question 14

Effect of cyclical structure

Answer 14

Represents how the soldier has to relive the same trauma: it’s not escapable

Question 15

Use of the title

Answer 15

‘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

Question 16

Colloquial

Answer 16

‘Legs it up the road’
‘One of my mates’

Question 17

Effects of colloquial language

Answer 17

Shows how desensitised violence is to soldiers since now it’s their every day experience

Question 18

Juxtaposition

Answer 18

‘Pain itself, the image of agony/ One of my mates goes by and tosses his guts back into his body’

Question 19

Effects of juxtaposition

Answer 19

Shows violent emotive lang alongside casual and every day slang
Reflects difference between carefree soldier before and traumatised after

Question 20

Vague language

Answer 20

‘Sort of inside out’

Question 21

Effect of vague language

Answer 21

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

Question 22

Use of the verb ‘tosses’

Answer 22

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

Question 23

Use of the verb ‘flush’

Answer 23

Soldier is now dirty and has to cleanse himself with drink and drugs

Question 24

Use of ‘dug in behind enemy lines’

Answer 24

Using war terminology
Even in his domestic life, conflict has invaded him in every way including vocabulary

Question 25

Sibilance

Answer 25

‘Some diStant, Sun-Stunned, Sand-Smothered land’

Question 26

Effect of sibilance

Answer 26

Sand and sun are positive things but turn sinister using violent verbs
Shows how the soldier experiences everything bad now

Question 27

‘Bloody life in my bloody hands’

Answer 27

Reference to Macbeth?
Lady Macbeth has reoccurring delusions of blooded hands, perhaps shows guilt of the soldier

Question 28

How does this poem link to others?

Answer 28

War photographer = war and domestic life clashes