Remains

• AO3:

  • Part of a small collection of poems written for 'the not dead'. This term refers to the ex-service men and women who have survived wars and are now dealing with the effects.
  • 'Remains' was written for a soldier who served in Basra, Iraq.
  • Explores ideas such as PTSD.
• Overview:

  Written in first person from the perspective of a soldier, can be seen as having two halves. In the first half, the voice recounts a memory from war in which he and two other soldiers killed looters raiding a mank. In the second half, he explains how the memory of the scene still haunts him. Suggestion that he is suffering from PTSD. The voice of the narrator is powerful as he moves from the past to present tense nd uses colloquial language. His ordinary tone and use of colloquialisms bring these horrors closer to the reader, as they are told in his ordinary voice.
• "One of them legs it up the road".

  • Colloquial language

  This use of colloquial language, which occurs mainly in the first half of the poem, makes the description of killing seem casual. In the second hald the tone is less casual as he explains his memories and how 'the drugs wont flush him out'. The use of imagery here shows his tortured mind.
• "Every round as it rips through his life".

  • Alliteration of the 'r' sound
  • Dysphemism

  The harsh 'r' sound reflects the violence of the image. It portrays his memory more vividly as it seems to bring it to life through its sound. 'Rips' is aggressive and violent which gives the bullet malicious intent to teat his life apart.
• "His bloody life in my bloody hands".

  • Metaphor

  The repetition of 'bloody' shows us that this memory of death keeps returning. It also suggests that his tortured memories of war are flooded with guilt for taking this man's life, making the reader sympathise with him.
• Aspects of Power and Conflict:

  • Inner conflict about the morality of his actions.
  • Destructive power of war to kill.
  • Conflict refers to war and the devastation that results.
  • Power of life and death that the soldier had over the looter and his possible abuse of power.
  • Power of PTSD.
• Poems that can be linked:

  • War Photographer