Remains Flashcards
What techniques in the poem mirror natural speech?
Short clauses, enjambment, colloquialisms.
What else can enjambment reflect?
The continuing nature of memories after war.
What creates a sense of ironic jollity?
Half rhymes and bouncy four beat rhythm .
What is the context for remains?
Based on real life soldier’s experience in Iraq and his PTSD.
What does the first person narrative mimic?
It mimics the interview Armitage conducted with the Iraqi soldier.
When was the poem published?
2008
What are the themes?
Conflict, War, Memory, Effects of confilct.
Who wrote it?
Simon Armitage
What is the effect of the repition of ‘somebody else’ and of ‘three’?
blame is shifted off the soldier, he doesnt want to accept the solitary blame. Syntactically, the other soldiers become dominant in the event.
But the poem ends with him dealing with it by himself alone at home ‘My bloody hands’.
What does the enjambment after ‘i swear’ on to the next stanza show?
The moment the soldier’s life broke, as reflected by a break in the poem from the enjambment.
How is a cyclical structure shown, and what is its effect?
Through the repition of ‘Probably armed, possibly not’ at the start and end.
The trauma is inescapeable.
What can the title infer?
- remains of the soldier, once used for warfare but now he is broken and of no use.
- remains of the looters body parts.
- remains of the memories (PTSD) from the war.
