Remains Flashcards
Who wrote Remains?
Simon Armitage
Summary of Remains
a soldier is haunted by his involvement in a shooting of a bank looter.
explores repercussions of war and raises awareness of ptsd
How does the speaker feel in the poem Remains?
- starts to accept responsibility
- guilty
- stripped of individuality and sensitivity
Remains:
“his . . . life in my bloody . . . ”
“his bloody life in my bloody hands”
“his bloody life in my bloody hands”
- symbols of guilt
- psychological trauma
- pun/gruesome nature/slang/a curse
- motif
Remains:
“. . . and . . . else and . . . else”
“all . . . of us”
“myself and somebody else and somebody else”
“all three of us”
“myself and somebody else and somebody else”
“all three of us”
- repeated references
- alliterate his responsibility
- dynamically minimises his own role
- ignore his guilt
- tools of war
- loose individuality
Remains:
“and i . . . // i see every . . . as it . . . through his . . . ”
“and i swear // i see every round as it rips through his life”
“and i swear // i see every round as it rips through his life”
- enjambment
- tension built up into violent imagery
- unable to separate events PTSD
Remains:
“Then i’m . . . on leave. But i . . . ”
“Then i’m home on leave. But i blink”
“Then i’m home on leave. But i blink”
- caesura, finality
- extent of PTSD
- doubt life is disrupted
- invade the domestic sphere
Remains:
“. . . armed . . . not”
“probably armed possibly not”
“probably armed possibly not”
- guilt
- justification
- acceptance
- strong expectation of soldiers
What is the structure of the poem Remains?
dramatic monologue (stream of consciousness or therapy session)
What other poems link to Remains?
- Poppies
- Charge of the light brigade
- Bayonet charge
