remains - simon armitage

Question 1

Give a plot summary for Remains.

Answer 1

remains - simon armitage:

• the speaker (a soldier) is sent to deal with looters in a bank in a Middle Eastern war zone
• one of the looters runs away, and the speaker and two other soldiers open fire, hitting him many times
• this spills his organs onto the street, which the speaker’s friend puts back inside him and precariously throws the body into the truck
• the speaker is haunted by the images long after, and turns to drink and drugs, which can’t erase it

Question 2

What poem cluster is this from? Why is this relevant?

Answer 2

Remains is from a cluster by Simon Armitage called ‘The Not Dead’. He attempts to make people remember those who have suffered and are still living, not the dead. They all have some truth within them.

Question 3

Where is the poem set?

Answer 3

The poem is set in a Middle Eastern war zone, and the speaker is a soldier, forced to attack a group of looters who are robbing a bank.

Question 4

Give seven key quotes in Remains.

Answer 4

remains - simon armitage:

• “on another occasion, we get sent out”
• “one… legs it.. probably armed, possibly not”
• “myself and somebody else and somebody else are all of the same mind… open fire”
• “I see every round as it rips through his life -“
• “end of story, except not really.”
• “the drink and the drugs won’t flush him out”
• “here and now, his bloody life in my bloody hands”

Question 5

Give three relevant points about structure or form in Remains.

Answer 5

remains - simon armitage:

• enjambment throughout
• four line stanza length (except last - two)
• irregular rhyme

Question 6

Give four key themes present in Remains.

Answer 6

remains - simon armitage:

• power of humans
• inner conflict
• effects of conflict
• suffering