Remains Flashcards
Brief plot summary
The poem follows a soldier who recalls an incident during war where he and his squad shot and killed a looter. At the time, the act feels routine, but afterward, the soldier is tormented by the memory. Even after returning home, he struggles with PTSD, unable to escape vivid flashbacks of the violent event. His attempts to numb the guilt through substances prove futile, leaving him consumed by remorse and trapped in an unending cycle of trauma.
Context
Part of The Not Dead: A 2008 collection (and documentary) based on interviews with British Iraq war veterans, exposing the psychological aftermath of war.
PTSD: Explores how soldiers carry trauma home, challenging glorified war narratives.
Structure and Form
Dramatic Monologue
First-Person Perspective: Creates intimacy, forcing readers to confront the soldier’s guilt.
Unreliable Narration: The speaker’s fragmented memories (“probably armed, possibly not”) reveal his unstable psyche.
Two-Part Structure
First Half (Action):
Focuses on the past event—the shooting of the looter.
Fast-paced, matter-of-fact tone reflects the soldiers’ desensitization.
Second Half (Aftermath):
Shifts to the present, showing the speaker’s PTSD.
Slower, more fragmented, mirroring his mental distress.
Language
Colloquial & Vague Language
Examples:
“Well, myself and somebody else and somebody else”
“this looter” / “carted off”
Effect:
Reflects the soldiers’ desensitization—violence becomes routine.
Dehumanizes the victim (“this looter”), making it easier to justify killing.
Violent Verbs & Gruesome Imagery
Examples:
“rips through his life” / “torn apart by a dozen rounds”
“tosses his guts back into his body”
Effect:
Forces readers to confront war’s physical horror.
Contrasts with sanitized, glorified war narratives.
Sibilance & Alliteration
Example:
“some distant, sun-stunned, sand-smothered land”
Effect:
Sibilance (“s” sounds) mimics a whisper, suggesting suppressed horror.
Hard “t” sounds (“not left for dead”) sound like gunfire.
“His blood-shadow stays on the street.”
Technique: Metaphor (“blood-shadow” = permanent guilt).
Analysis: The “shadow” suggests an inescapable memory, haunting the soldier everywhere.
“I see every round as it rips through his life.”
Techniques: Violent verb (“rips”), present tense (“see”).
Analysis: The graphic imagery and present tense show how the trauma feels ongoing.
“His bloody life in my bloody hands.”
Techniques: Repetition (“bloody”), symbolism (blood = guilt).
Analysis: The swearword-like “bloody” conveys rage and remorse.May connote guilt from Lady Macbeth in Macbeth.
“Sort of inside out… tosses his guts back into his body.”
Technique: Colloquial language (“sort of”), violent imagery.
Analysis: The casual tone underscores how war desensitizes soldiers.
“The drink and drugs won’t flush him out.”
Technique: Metaphor (“flush” = treating memory like waste).
Analysis: Shows futile attempts to numb PTSD, making the trauma feel dirty and invasive.
“Not left for dead in some distant, sun-stunned, sand-smothered land.”
Techniques: Sibilance (“sun-stunned, sand-smothered”), alliteration.
Analysis: The hissing sounds evoke a stifling, hostile environment.
Comparisons
War Photographer (Carol Ann Duffy)
Shared Focus: Psychological trauma post-conflict
Remains: Soldier haunted by killing a looter (“blood-shadow stays”).
War Photographer: Photographer tormented by developing war images (“spools of suffering”).
Key Contrast:
Remains uses visceral, violent language (“rips through his life”); War Photographer is more restrained (“ordinary pain”).
Bayonet Charge (Ted Hughes)
Shared Focus: Dehumanization in battle
Remains: Desensitized language (“somebody else and somebody else”).
Bayonet Charge: Soldier reduced to instinct (“raw-seamed hot khaki”).
Key Contrast:
Bayonet Charge glorifies survival; Remains critiques moral injury.
Poppies (Jane Weir)
Shared Focus: Grief and memory
Remains: Soldier’s flashbacks (“I see every round”).
Poppies: Mother’s mourning (“released a song bird from its cage”).
Key Contrast:
Poppies is elegiac; Remains is raw and accusatory.
Kamikaze
Trauma: Both explore psychological damage—Remains through violent flashbacks, Kamikaze through social rejection.
Moral Conflict: Soldiers/pilots face impossible choices (“probably armed” vs. abandoning duty).
Key Contrast: Kamikaze uses natural imagery (sea, fish) for life; Remains avoids it to emphasize urban brutality.
