Remains Flashcards
Dramatic Monologue
Armitage writes “Remains” as a dramatic monologue and in the present tense, using present participles such as “legs it”, “tosses” and “are”. This gives it a sense of being an account from memory in a flashback. It’s important to note that flashbacks are a symptom of PTSD. Perhaps the speaker could be seen as recounting his experiences in a therapy like setting. It also works to set up a one way conversation as only the speaker is talking.
Media res
The poem opens In media res (mid action) which serves to confuse the reader as they initially don’t know what’s going on. This mirrors the confusion of the soldiers who are not emotionally prepared for what will come next once leaving a war zone. This could be Armitage making a societal comment in suggesting that soldiers are launched into situations they don’t fully understand. It also suggests lack of compassion the military has for the individuals they are risking in strategic situations - hence, he was “possibly not” armed. By opening in media res, the poem also reflects the chaos of war and how unpredictable it is.
The ending
At the end of the poem, the structure of the stanza length breaks down: the final stanza is only two lines, whereas the rest of the stanzas in the poem are four lines. This breakdown in structure could mirror the breakdown of soldiers during war. It could also suggest that this is the stanza in which the speaker has truly broken. The ending reveals the source of his internal chaos as being his guilt, which brings chaos and disorder to his life as it brings disorder to the structure.
“bloody life in my bloody hands”
By using the adjective “bloody” in the line “his bloody life in my bloody hands”, Armitage is making a pun as this word could be describing the violent, gruesome nature of his death. Or it could just be being used as slang / a curse. The later use of the word suggests that this event has ruined his life by having cursed him, and suggest he regrets killing him.
The speaker feels entirely responsible for the death, suggested through the reference to “hands”.
In literature, hands often serve as symbols of guilt. Shifted from sharing blame with others at the beginning of the poem to taking sole responsibility for the death of the other soldier, showing how PTSD can shift perspective, and how memory can be corrupted/changed.
“and I swear // I see every round as it rips through his life”
Armitage’s use of enjambment such as in “and I swear // I see every round as it rips through his life” causes tension and builds up to violent imagery. It also suggests that the speaker is unable to separate out events, just as the sentences flow on his memories cause the past to flow
into the present. He continues to be haunted by what he did and this moment will continue to hold influence over the rest of life, unable to be isolated nor forgotten. It’s also notable that the enjambment occurs at key moments and specifically break up the sentences about death and suffering. This suggests that the pain he witnessed breaks him just as it breaks the structure.
“Then I’m home on leave. But I blink”
Caesura, such as in the line “Then I’m home on leave. But I blink”, provides finality. Going home should be the end of his memory of the event and the extent of its impact on him, because the war zone shouldn’t be able to impact him once he leaves. However the
conjunctive “but” at the start of the second sentence shows how war continues to impact him even when he should be able to escape it.
Leave should be a time of relaxation and recovery, with an opportunity for peace and rest, “But I blink” creates doubt that this will be true because the actual response is separated through enjambment. The caesura interrupts the sentence, just as his memories of conflict interrupt his everyday. This forces the reader to pause and think and consider conflict and think about it through the speaker’s perspective.
“so”, “I swear”, “legs it” and “mates”
The colloquial language such as “so”, “I swear”, “legs it” and “mates” which is used when referring to the dead bodies suggest that the soldiers have become deadened and desensitised to the harsh realities of war. This allows them to talk about death and suffering in colloquial terms.
“probably armed, possibly not”,
The speaker mentions the looter he killed: “probably armed, possibly not”, which suggests there’s a slight chance he could have been innocent and not a threat. “Probably” comes first because this is what he wants to believe as it provides justification.
There is clear anaphora of this phrase later in the poem, to show how he is focused on the possibility of the killing being unjustified, and how he feels guilty about it and regrets killing the looter. This cyclical structure shows how he is stuck in his mind and is forced to keep coming back to this question. The crux of his suffering is guilt.
