Remains Flashcards
Context(2)
Clue channel 4 and Guardsman tromans
Written for “The not dead” on channel 4, to raise awareness fir PTSD
Based on heart wrenching experiences of Guardsman tromans in the 2003 Iraq war
Context(2)
Clue-Timing and presentation of poem
The poem and documentary came at a time of changing public opinions on war-Armatige doesn’t support war
Armitage presents conflict as more visceral and real than those who have come before him-vivid insight and a fragmented state of the soldier, guilt plays into soldiers mind
Context (1)
Clue-Effects of war
Remains seeks to highlight the virulent effects of war by exploring the psychological effects on the soldiers, which contrasts other typical presentations of war as glorious or noble
Themes-Guilt-“probably armed, possibly not”
Anaphora of “probably armed, possibly not” repeated throughout poem to show how he is still wracked with doubt and guilt as to if the man was a threat; his guilt is the cause of his suffering leading him to be in a constant state of confusion and despair. Always attempting to justify what he has done. Although it’s his duty the soldier is haunted by his conscious over the fact whether the looter was armed or not as it determines whether his actions are justified or not.
Themes guilt-“his bloody life in my bloody hands” “bloody” specifically
• Adjective of “bloody” in “his bloody life in my bloody hands” could hold a double meaning. Could refer to literal blood from the barbaric death or as a means of cursing
Themes-guilt- “my bloody hands” with “myself and somebody else and somebody else”
• Contrast between “my bloody hands” with “myself and somebody else and somebody else” shows how he is gradually coming to terms with his culpability and guilt instead of projecting the blame- he has begun to internalise it
Themes-guilt-“myself and somebody else and somebody else”
“myself and somebody else and somebody else” is an attempt to syntactically cram the sentence with other individuals in order to shift the blame; he flickers from internalisation of guilt to deflection, exposing his gruelling state of inner turmoil
Themes-guilt-“His bloody life in my bloody hands”
“His bloody life in my bloody hands” echoes the tragic hero Macbeth when he guiltily pleads:’Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand” Blood is used as a motif for guilt in both texts This also may insinuate that the soldier views his killing of the looter as unjust in a similar way to Macbeth’s barbaric slaughtering of the king. Just as Macbeth gradually spiralled mentally after murdering king Duncan, the soldier is going through the same when murdering the looter.
Themes-Dehumanised instruments of war-“three of a kind” and “all of the same”
“three of a kind” and “all of the same mind” shows how they are all conditioned to be the same. Three of a kind could also be referring to Poker which could be Armitage’s indictment of how the soldier’s were dehumanised and played by the powers above.
Themes-Dehumanised instruments of war no quote
• Their individuality, emotional and physical well being was secondary to them being weapons of warfare
Themes-instruments of war-“A kind”
• “A kind” demonstrates how all soldiers are subject to become carcasses of insanity and shells of their former selves
Themes-dehumanised instruments of war “sent”
• Imperative verb of “sent” shows how soldiers are helpless mechanisms and instruments of war.
Themes-dehumanised instruments of war”on another occasion”(in media res)
• Poem begins in media res (in the middle of action) “an another occasion” showing how this a regular occurrence and one of many such vile experiences that the soldiers are immediately thrown into
Themes-dehumanised instruments of war “legs” “bloody”
Sort of inside out” “legs” “bloody” The colloquial language creates a desensitised ambience as if the soldiers are expected to normalise this brutal onslaught of lives for a war- a battle that isn’t even their own.
What does war to do soliders in terms of humanity
They lose it-soldiers are used by those in higher powers like pawns in a chess match or an extension to a machine rather than being seen as human inidividuals
Themes-Trauma/psychological impact of war “myself and somebody else and somebody else” to “ my bloody hands”
• Shift in speaker’s recollection of events shows how memory is not infallible and can be corrupted. Shown in shift form’ “myself and somebody else and somebody else” to “my bloody hands”
Deflecting blame, unreliable narrator as his mind can be corrupted by the psychological torture he’s suffered
Themes-Trauma/psychological impact of war “Then I’m home on leave. But i blink”
• The agonizing and inescapable memories are exacerbated by: “Then I’m home on leave. But I blink”. Usage of caesura highlights the discordant nature of the soldier’s mindset. Represents trauma, stopping during sentence as being present in reality makes him feel to guilty.
Shows the virulent effects of dwelling on the event relentlessly-their minds are ceaselessly engulfed by this inescapable trauma
Themes-Trauma/psychological impact of war “the drink and drugs won’t flush him out”
• Armitage subverts the ideas of the physical trauma being the most immeasurable impact on a solider, he shows the devastating and all-consuming psychological impact as “the drink and drugs won’t flush him out”
Normally soldier issues are physical, although armatige is presenting the idea of the suffering the soldiers went through mentally is worse than their physical pain
Themes-Trauma/psychological impact of war “drink” and “drugs”
• The alliteration on the toxicity of “drink” and “drugs” emphasises the words, mirroring how these are poignant coping mechanisms for the solider to momentarily escape this mental hellish nightmare he constantly relives.The alliteration shows the continual cycle soldiers are suffering through these issues
Why is remains a universal poem
Through Armitage making addiction seem a natural aftermath of experiencing war, this makes it a universal poem that remains timeless. This pressing issue is applicable for wars in both the past and present.
Form-Dramatic monologue
Dramatic monologue-one person speaking from their pov
Paints a picture of it being a traumatic account from his memory
Form-Shifts in perspective
Shifts in perspective throughout monologue mirrors the soldier coming to terms with his guilt yet tries to deflect this guilt due to the sheer state of inner turmoil he has
Forms-colloquial language
Shows how soldier is accustomed to violence
Form-Regular quatrains
Highlights the regularity of his PTSD and the rigid, unrelenting control over him
Regularity/normalisation of immense suffering
The last stanza is only two lines, contrasting with the regularity of the stanzas before. This may be to emphasise that the speaker still feels guilt over the death or to emphasise the speaker’s disintegration of mind
