Remains

Question 1

Context
1) Poet
2) summary of poem

Answer 1

+ Simon Armitage
+ about the guilt a british soldier goes through after shooting a man during the time of the Iraqi war

Question 2

‘on another ———’

Answer 2

On another occassion
makes this story seem like one of many, explicitly seems like a funny anecdote but implicitly; shows that soldiers guilt is widespread
media res

Question 3

line length / rhyme scheme

Answer 3

irregular- like a story

Question 4

narrator and change

Answer 4

‘we’ to ‘I’ —> sounds like a personal confession, revealing his guilt, which will stay with him forever

Question 5

volta

Answer 5

at start sounds like a funny anecdote, morphing into a gruesome death
volta on line 17
to guilt of soldier

Question 6

‘L— it’

Answer 6

legs it
colloquial language- trivialises the mans death, showing how the soldier did not make understand the severity of his actions

Question 7

repetition of ‘a– t—-‘

Answer 7

all three
hints at guilt- wants to shift blame

Question 8

‘r— through his —-‘
‘b—- d——- on the other side’

Answer 8

**‘rips through his life’
‘broad daylight on the other side’

violent metaphor- shocking alternatively violent imagery exaggerating the horror of his crime

Question 9

‘t—– his g— back into his body’

Answer 9

tosses his guts back into his body
casually dispense of body. on the other hand- treats dead body with disdain and devoid of emotion -

tosses his guts = sibilance - shows the shame and digust in his voices- regrets actions

Question 10

‘end of —–, except not ——’

Answer 10

End of story, except not really
volta and change in mood of the poem

Question 11

‘his b—- - s——– stays on the s—–’

Answer 11

his blood-shadow stays on the street
visual reminder of death, showing the guilt of his actions will haunt him forever. memories will plauge him

Question 12

repition of ‘possibly armed, possibly not’

Answer 12

replays the event in his mind- inner turmoil
guilt

Question 13

‘d– in behind e—– l—-‘

Answer 13

dug in behind enemy lines
metaphor to compare the memory to a soldier in a trench- haunting but also an inescapable experience as trenches were renouned to be mundane places where you are trapped.

Question 14

‘his ——- l— in my ——- h—-‘

Answer 14

his bloody life in my bloody hands
bloody = gruseomeness of death but also swearing in anger
no collective responsibility —> he feels completely responsible
allusion to Macbeth- shows how he is overiddn=en and consumed by guilt- just like LMB

Question 15

how is guilt portrayed

Answer 15

• consuming
• allusion to emphasise guilt- LMB- how guilt causes mental torture
• REPITION highlights the immense pain guilt has caused him