Remains Flashcards
poet
Simon Armitage, he is direct in the poems
poet laureate, to represent biritish issues
what does the title suggest
memopries in his mind, plural
decay of a body
survivor
rhyme scheme enjambant
There is no regular rhythmic pattern and there are examples of enjambment, sometimes between stanzas, which adds to the sense of someone telling their story fairly naturally.
on another occasion
start in medias res evokes inability to forget
suggests not the first time
probably armed, possible not
echo of plosive sounds evoke duilemma, sense of doubt
refrain later on(dilemma haunting him when he is safe”
” all” + collective pronouns second stanza
repeptiton x 3 share respinsability and therefore eguilt
contast start iof 3 stanza with I
and somebody else and somebody else
repetition, no names, hiding their guilt
pain itself, the image of agony
war, seriousness, suffering is noted.
powerful emotive metaphors create a clear impression of what violence can do to people: it transforms and destroys
end of story except no really
turning point of the poem where the violent act starts to mentally affect the soldier-voice of the poem, recalls initial dilemma
his blood-shadow stay
metaphor for guilt stays, it wil haunt him
then I am home on leave
end of story except no really
then he is carted off in the back of the lorry
short sentences, trying to leave war behind
But I blink / and he bursts again
The enjambment across stanzas here recreates the “blink” of the narrator and the uidea that his memoruies don’t stop ceates confusion. blink suggests that he wants to forget but he remembers
“burst” imagery = violent word
“sleep”
“dream”
should be a quiet moment, contradicted by violent memories.
And the drink and the drugs won’t flush him out -
luralised nouns of substance abuse create a clear sense of the trauma of the conflict on the soldier as - like many suffering from PTSD. trauma won’t go away, the “-“ suggests that it is an ongoing problem
some distant, sun-stunned, sand-smothered land
The violent adjectival elements and ther sibilance of the description help to reiterate the corrupting effects of war on people and envionments
his bloody life in my bloody hands.
multiple and emotive meanings. The repetition of adjective “bloody” here is polysemous, meaning perhaps both the angry, frustrated swearing of a soldier and the literal blood-soaked “life” and “hands” of the incident, as well as the sense of guild felt by the soldier at having literal and metaphorical ‘blood on his hands’.
confrontation, himself as a killer, his own morality
contrast in actions of soldiers
seriousness when alive and carelessness after, and PTSD when home
LANGUAGE USED
d colloquial language is used throughout.
“MATE” shows personal connections of soldiers in war
description of killing
imagery is graphic and brutal.
the detauils given convey the disturbance and trauma that the soldier carries with him long after he has returned home.
structure
4 quatrains 2 lines to end
disintegrates towards the end
type of peom
confessional (wordsworth)
themes
guilt
dilemma
action and consequences
trauma
memories
violence
ws as a haunting experience
