REMAINS

• ~REMAINS~ (Simon Armitage)

  IDEASS

  Armitage explores the violence experienced by soldiers and civilians during war. Armitage also showcases the futility of war due to the traumatic impact it has on those who were affected by it.
• FORM

  Half-rhyme: "body" and "lorry","life" and "side" ,"road" and "not".

  The poet uses this in order to reiterate the mental torment of the soldier as he is unable to let go of the guilt that he carries, regardless of his desire to do so.

  The caesura works alongside the half-rhyme by forcing the readers to pause within the lines of the poem which represents the soldiers' constant inability to move past the feelings of guilt every time he tries to do so, the overwhelming guilt 'stops' him and he is unable to get on with his life.
• IMAGERY 1

  "I see every round as it rips through his life-/ I see broad daylight on the other side."


  • Bullets are personified [given a reckless power to destroy and not just to inflict pain, but to terminate life at ease.]and given violent act of 'rips' to showcase the violence with which they are tearing through the looter's body. It creates a gory [graphic] and grotesque image of how this unfolded.
  • By describing the looters body as having a gap in his body which lets "broad daylight" pass through it, exaggerates the pain that he would have endured [dehumanised the man]. It also exaggerates the amount of bullets that were shot- as this is quite unnecessary Armitage could be exploring how consuming the violence experienced at war can be.
• IMAGERY 2

  "End of story, except not really. His blood-shadow stays on the street."

  • colloquial language-[oversimplify the tragic and complex suffering that all involved experienced; perhaps this mimics the limits of others- or even himself.] used to showcase how the speaker is able to understand that his guilt and memories of what happened will stay with him forever, even though he is now back home.
  • "blood-shadow"- metaphor to represent his continuous guilt. Shadow-> something that is stuck with you, you cannot get rid of.
  • "blood" represents the guilt that the soldier feels therefore- this shows the soldiers guilt which is consuming and he can't get rid of. Its seen as a visual reminder for the man of the violence but also represents a lasting memory that he can't forget.
• • CONTINUED...
  • reductive language used to emphasise the degree of trauma faced as though these are the end of the facts but the symptoms are clearly ongoing.
  • sibilance- ongoing 's' sound becomes a haunting and ongoing reminder of the devastation.
• IMAGERY 3

  "He's here in my head when I close my eyes. / dug in behind enemy lines... his bloody life in my bloody hands"

  • Blood imagery again- blood stains which represents the ongoing consequences. Intertextuality- reference to Macbeth and the responsibility/ guilt the man suffers. His life and the man's death are merged into one.
  • "close my eyes"- refers to the soldiers inability to sleep [Macbeth] and therefore rest due to his constant reliving of the situation where he killed a man who was potentially unarmed.
  • Repetition of "bloody"- represents the intense guilt felt by the soldier due to the grotesque and immoral way in which they shot the robber- although he had committed a crime, the punishment was too severe.
• LANGUAGE

  "my mates" , "legs it up the road" , "tosses his guts"

  • the poet uses colloquial language- sounds casual and are a stark contrast to the poetic , lyrical imagery used at other points in the poem.
  • the colloquialisms mirror everyday speech and therefore emphasise the brutality of conflict even further- these details have been considered so many times that it's being communicated as it it were the norm.
  • on one hand, the informal, controversial tone is used to show how the speaker and therefore soldiers fighting in wars have become desensitised to violence due to their constant exposure to it.
  • on the other hand, the controversial tones also reiterates how easily the speaker can discuss the incident which shows how often he talks and therefore thinks about it. He is unable to stop reliving it.
• STRUCTURE

  • immediacy of action in the opening compared to the finality/ stillness of the ending depicts a sense of the trauma the soldier faces. It is as though, at the beginning, his mind is abruptly taken back to the horror of intense action for it to be replayed in his mind.
  • the final stanza focuses on a single image that seems to be permanent and therefore can be interpreted as a memory that haunts him- also implied by the blood imagery.
  • "near to the knuckle" idiom: close to the limits of what others find acceptable; the man is so distressed, he is at his own limit.