Remains - Simon Armitage

Question 1

STRUCTURE

Answer 1

• No rhyme scheme; the poem is a monologue, using very conversational asides and syntax.
• Use of colloquialism (slang) and personal pronouns to give it a sense of realism.
• There is a loose set of rhymes in the poem, often internal and used to give an almost childish aspect to the horror of the warzone, perhaps suggesting how numb the soldier is to what is happening.

Question 2

CONTEXT

Answer 2

• Written from the perspective of a soldier stationed in Iraq or Afghanistan
• The soldier is on patrol and a looter appears to possibly have a gun so they open fire. The soldier, even long after this event, cannot leave the memory behind and carries this dead man with him in his mind.

Question 3

AUTHOR

Answer 3

Simon Armitage.
- His recent poems have looked at the experiences of war and soldiers

Question 4

KEY IDEAS

Answer 4

• The poem explores the events in a soldiers life which in turn trigger PTSD.
• The memory hurts him more than the event himself.
• The colloquial nature of the speakers voice is used to create a sense of heightened realism to the piece.
• The poet suggests a conflict in the speakers mind; an avoidance of the reality of what happened which happened.

Question 5

KEY QUOTES

Answer 5

“probably armed, possibly not”
“and I swear / I see every round as it rips through his life”
“his blood-shadow stays on the street”
“his bloody life in my bloody hands”

Question 6

Analysis - “probably armed, possibly not”

Answer 6

• Highlights the uncertainty of the situation.
• Suggests the speaker’s mind has gone back several times to whether the looter was really armed and whether he should have been killed

Question 7

Analysis - “and I swear / I see every round as it rips through his life”

Answer 7

• Graphic hyperbole; used to demonstrate the lack of glory or honour in this killing.
• Undermines the ideas of war being glorious which many people have; general message = war doesn’t benefit anyone involved.

Question 8

“his blood-shadow stays on the street”

Answer 8

• Metaphor for the memory of the man and events.
• Blood = connotes death, shadow = connotes lingering memory.
• The man’s blood cannot be washed away off the street, just as the memories cannot be cleared from the soldier’s mind.

Question 9

“his bloody life in my bloody hands.”

Answer 9

• Double meaning; bloody meaning covered in blood but also an expression of anger/hate.
• The soldier is at conflict with this dead man, but more with his own mind.
• Final line of the poem - ends with a sense of despair and open ended; no resolution.