Remains Analysis

• Mother Any Distance


  Poem by Simon Armitage about a soldier haunted by his involvement in the shooting of a bank looter, exploring the repercussions of war and PTSD
• The poem and documentary coincided with changing public opinion as people were starting to oppose the Iraq war, which was condemned as unnecessary
• As a result of these more modern conflicts, the public and military started to recognise PTSD, and Armitage's poem helped raise awareness and incite sympathy
• In media res


  The poem opens mid-action, which serves to confuse the reader and mirror the confusion of the soldier, as they are not emotionally prepared for what will come next
• By opening in media res, the poem reflects the chaos of war and how unpredictable it is
• By mentioning "on another occasion we get sent out", the speaker is saying this is one occasion of many, not an exceptional case but a reality the soldiers have to deal with on a day-to-day basis


  Soldiers are expected to deal with repeated exposure to suffering and horror without any help
• Probably armed, possibly not

  Suggests there's a slight chance the looter could have been innocent and not a threat, but the speaker wants to believe he was armed to justify the killing
• "tosses": 'Connotes a lack of care or respect for the looter's body, suggesting the soldiers have become desensitised to death and the devaluation of human life due to their exposure to conflict'
• The speaker is haunted by the memory of the killing

  The looter's "blood-shadow" stays on the street and the speaker keeps seeing him, even when he's home on leave
• The speaker is unable to escape the memory


  The drink and drugs won't flush it out, and the looter is "here in my head when I close my eyes"
• "near to the knuckle"

  Meaning "risky or verging on offensive" - the memory feels offensive and still causing the speaker pain, even though it should be in the past and forgotten
• The poem is written as a dramatic monologue in the present tense, giving it a sense of being an account from memory in a flashback
• Dramatic monologue


  The speaker needs to go over the events in his head in order to process them and lessen their impact on his life
• Stream of consciousness


  The colloquial way the poem is portrayed is structured like a stream of consciousness, centred around the speaker's uncensored memories and emotions
• This contrasts with the expectation for soldiers to be strong and masculine, in order to not reveal emotions or feelings
• In media res


  Mid action
• Opening in media res

  Mirrors the confusion of the soldiers who are not emotionally prepared for what will come next once leaving a war zone
• Opening in media res suggests lack of compassion the military has for the individuals they are risking in strategic situations
• Opening in media res reflects the chaos of war and how unpredictable it is
• "on another occasion we get sent out"
• Soldiers are expected to deal with repeated exposure to suffering and horror without any help
• The opening positions the reader as a listener, as they are being told a story and beginning a conversation
• The speaker needs for someone to listen to his experiences and suffering in order to process his memories and guilt, like a confession or therapy
• Stanza length breakdown at the end

  • Mirrors the breakdown of soldiers during war
  • Suggests the speaker has truly broken
• Breakdown in structure


  Brings chaos and disorder to the speaker's life, reflecting his internal chaos and guilt
• "bloody"


  • Could be describing the violent, gruesome nature of the death
  • Could be used as slang / a curse, suggesting the event has ruined the speaker's life
• The speaker feels entirely responsible for the death, suggested through the reference to "hands"
• Hands often serve as symbols of guilt in literature
• The ending has links to Macbeth and guilt, with blood used as a symbolic motif for guilt
• Armitage is exploring the psychological impact that killing has on a person, implying it is not natural for humans to kill others
• Motif


  A recurring theme in a text
• Shifting blame


  1. At the start, the speaker tries to alleviate his responsibility by referencing other people

  2. Towards the end, the speaker accepts full responsibility and blames himself entirely
• Syntactically


  Relating to the arrangement of words within a sentence within a text
• Enjambment


  Sentence which runs over multiple lines
• Enjambment causes tension and builds up to violent imagery
• Enjambment suggests the speaker is unable to separate out events, as the past flows into the present
• Enjambment occurs at key moments, breaking up sentences about death and suffering
• Caesura


  A pause between words, for example across lines, with the use of a comma or full stop
• Caesura provides finality, but the conjunctive "but" shows how war continues to impact the speaker even when he should be able to escape it
• Colloquial language is used when referring to the dead bodies, suggesting the soldiers have become deadened and desensitised to the harsh realities of war