Remains

Question 1

Context
Structure/form
Message

Answer 1

Simon Amritage-
Modern poet (born in 1963)
Poem from 2008 collection, based on real/true accounts of soldiers serving in Iraq, looks at effects of war.
Structure/form-
No regular rhyme scheme, sounds like someone is telling a story. The speaker begins in first person plural (we) but changes to first person singular (i)

Question 2

Quotation 1 ~ “remains?

Answer 2

“Remains”

• could be linked the the remaining thoughts or people killed
• what’s left of the persons good mental state

Question 3

Quotation 2 ~ “we get sent out”

Answer 3

“We get sent out”

• enjambent, decreases the danger of it, a battlefield would be more tense
• escalates on line 1 and then de-escalates on line (“…to tackle looters raiding a bank”)

Question 4

Quotation 3 ~ “probably armed, possibly not”

Answer 4

“Probably armed, possibly not”

• there is doubt
• high chance that they are armed, but a chance that the man the soldier killed was not armed.

Question 5

Quotation 4 ~ “he’s there on the ground, sort of inside out”

Answer 5

“He’s there on the ground, sort of inside out”

• “he’s” when the soldier realised that it is a person, and contrasts line 2 (“looter”)
• “sort of inside out” the soldier is in a state of shock and can’t put the severity of the mans injuries into words

Question 6

Quotation 5 ~ “his life in my bloody hands”

Answer 6

“His life in my bloody hands”

• “bloody” either metaphorical or being used by the soldier as a mild expletive. (Curse word)
• that’s it was his [the soldiers] fault and his responsibility