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Themes:
1) Guilt
2) Violence
3) Effects of conflict
4) Memory
5) Individual experience
6) Horrors of war

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'And the drink and the drugs won’t flush him out'

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'And the drink and the drugs won’t flush him out'

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The nightmares and haunting memories can’t be eradicated, so the soldier uses alcohol and drugs to ease the pain. Neither can he cure the unwanted flashbacks himself. He is mentally trapped. The verb ‘flush’ is generally associated with ridding of unwanted waste suggesting he is comparing the memory to excrement to emphasise his disgust of it.

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This shows that the unknown victim’s story has just ended as he has been killed; however the soldier’s story has just started. It is the turning point of the poem, as his post traumatic stress disorder will start to emerge.

Note that this is turning point is, in terms of poetic device, called a volta, a pivot, after which the story changes direction.

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Colloquial language adds authenticity

Present tense makes the reader relive the events

Passive voice implies helplessness on the soldiers’ part

Graphic imagery relays the horror of war

A casual tone is implied when soldiers “toss” body parts away

Guilt is carried in the repetition of the line ‘probably armed, possibly not,’

Plosive ‘b’ sounds are emphatic and bold

Compound adjectives are used to spitefully mock an idealised version of war

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The repetition of the line ‘probably armed, possibly not,’ portrays the speaker’s lingering doubts. He is tortured by the fact that the looter may not have been a threat and has great difficulty justifying the killing of a potentially unarmed man.

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AO3 Context - Why did Armitage want you to read this poem?

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AO3 Context - Why did Armitage want you to read this poem?

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‘Remains’ is from a collection of poems called ‘The Not Dead’, which was written in 2007 for a TV documentary of the same name. It is a collection of modern war poems based on the experience of soldiers in recent conflicts. ‘Remains’ is based on the experiences of a soldier who served in Basra in Iraq. He suffered severe PTSD as a result of his experiences and the poem recalls one particular event where the soldier shot the looter of a bank and was left with horrendous flashbacks reliving the moment of the man’s death. He turned to drink, drugs and crime on his return to Britain and the poem focuses on his overwhelming feelings of guilt and his struggle to come to terms with his experience.

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'in some distant sun-stunned, sand-smothered land’ 

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'in some distant sun-stunned, sand-smothered land’ 

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The use of sibilance and assonance in the lines ‘in some distant sun-stunned, sand-smothered land’ create a sharp hissing sound, perhaps hinting at the fact that the speaker is angry about being sent off to fight a war that he feels has little to do with him. The pair of compound adjectives, seemingly offered sarcastically, present an idealistic view of the war zones.

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‘tosses his guts back into his body’ & ‘carted off in the back of a lorry.’ 

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‘tosses his guts back into his body’ & ‘carted off in the back of a lorry.’ 

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The verbs ‘toss’ and ‘cart’ suggest a complete lack of respect for the victim and perhaps a desensitisation to death for some of the soldiers. The description dehumanises the victim and portrays him almost like cattle being disposed of without dignity or care. Reflecting on the event, the speaker is filled with remorse that he didn’t feel at the time.

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The word ‘remains’ has several meanings: it is often used to refer to what is left of a human body after death – in this case, the brutally injured corpse of the looter. It could also refer to the guilt and remorse felt by the soldier which ‘remains’ long after the event and haunts his dreams every time he closes his eyes. Perhaps it also refers to the ‘remains’ of the soldier, suggesting that he is changed as a result of his experiences and is only a shell of the man he was before he went to war.

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Remains by Simon Armitage

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FORM
Told as an anecdote
Monologue, no rhyme scheme, irregular stanzas fast paced
This resembles a stream of consciousness theory, which reveals post- traumatic stress disorder. Present and past mixed up
Also reflects the chaotic state of speaker’s mind.