Remains

Question 1

Who wrote remains and when

Answer 1

Simon armitage in 2008

Question 2

Summary of remains

Answer 2

The poem is about a soldier who is haunted by his involvement in a shooting of a bank looter. It also explores the repercussions of war for individuals and raises awareness of PTSD​.

Question 3

Key themes in remains

Answer 3

Guilt , effects of war on a person, PTSD

Question 4

Context for remains

Answer 4

-armitage was inspired by documentary on ex military showcasing the effects of the war on the soldiers
-armitage writing this poem helped raised awareness for PTSD and incite sympathy

Question 5

Structure and form of remains

Answer 5

-dramatic monologue
-uses enjambment and caesura to add to the conversational style of the poem, but also to fragment it
-poem starts with the connective “another”, as if the reader is entering part way through a longer story-telling

Question 6

Key quotes for remains

Answer 6

‘His bloody life in my bloody hands ‘
‘Dug in behind enemy lines’
‘His blood shadow stays on the street’
‘Probably armed possibly not’

Question 7

Analyse quote ‘his bloody life in my bloody hands’

Answer 7

-event has ruined his life by cursing him forever, it’s is suggested he regrets killing him
-armitage clearly ends poem without resolution which mirrors the lack of escape, respite (relief) or resolution as the soldier has been affected by PTSD for years
-link to Macbeth blood on his hands (guilt)

Question 8

Analyse quote ‘dug in behind enemy lines’

Answer 8

-a phrase of profound irony as the speaker was initially the one stationed deep in opposition territory, and significantly as the ‘enemy in this instance is the soldier’s own brain
-military term ‘dug’ shows how army life follows him even when he’s home he can’t communicate in regular civilian terms

Question 9

Analyse quote ‘blood shadow stays on the street’

Answer 9

-there is no way to forgot about it as there real traces
-seen as a psychological manifestation of the speaker’s guilt over his part in the death of the looter
-deaths stains persons conscience and memory just like it stains the street

Question 10

Analyse quote ‘probably armed possibly not’

Answer 10

-innocence to way he guess the state of robber
-repeated later on connect past to present
-laying heavy on his mind, he cannot forget the day
-trying to reason why he killed him (he may have been a threat)