Remains

Question 1

Context (2)

Answer 1

• Poem is written from the perspective of a soldier in Iraq or Afghanistan
• The rest of the poem looks at the fact the soldier even long after the event, cannot leave the memory behind and carries this dead man with him in his mind - PTSD

Question 2

Themes (5)

Answer 2

• Effects of conflict
• Reality of conflict
• Memory
• Guilt
• Individual experience

Question 3

Structure (4)

Answer 3

• Written in 8 stanzas last of which is a couplet leaving the poem on a dramatic end note
• Poem is monologue using very conversational asides and syntax
• Emphasis of the natural speech patterns of the speaker is shown through the use of the enjambement and the caesura
• Realism is shown through the use of colloquialism and personal pronouns

Question 4

Numb (2)

Answer 4

• The soldier appears to be numb to the horror of the experience of war, most of the horrific images of death and killing are juxtaposed to the casual nature of the way the soldier speaks, using slang and clichés
• Represents a conflict in himself by the way he sees the events and how they affect him

Question 5

Tone (2)

Answer 5

• Sombre - feel as though he will always have blood on his hands as the memory was not left behind
• “His bloody life in my bloody hands”

Question 6

How is the theme of guilt shown in the poem (2)

Answer 6

• The speaker in this poem is haunted by the guilt of taking another man’s life - suffers from PTSD - the memory hurts him more than the event itself
• He is upset by the fact the man might have been innocent

Question 7

Quote for guilt

Answer 7

“Possibly armed, possibly not”

Question 8

Analyse - “possibly armed possibly not”

Answer 8

The phrase is repeated in the poem - the use of repetition emphasises the speaker’s sense of discomfort at having killed another human being who may have been innocent

Question 9

Quotes for conflict

Answer 9

• “Dug in behind enemy lines”

* “Not left for dead in some distant, sun-stunned, sand-smothered land”

Question 10

Analyse - “dug in behind enemy lines”

Answer 10

the use of analogy - describes the memory like a hostile soldier in his mind, where he cannot get him

Question 11

Analyse - “Not left for dead in some distant, sun-stunned, sand-smothered land or six feet under in desert sand”

Answer 11

• Use of Sibilance - “smothered”, “sand” and “sun-stunned”

* Semantic field of death

Question 12

How is the theme of life and death shown in the poem?

Answer 12

The looter is killed by rounds of bullets that the group of soldiers send into him

Question 13

Quote for life and death

Answer 13

“I see every round as it rips through his life-I see broad daylight on the other side”

Question 14

Analyse - “I see every round as it rips through his life-I see broad daylight on the other side”

Answer 14

The use of a graphic hyperbole - demonstrates the lack of glory or honour in this killing