Remains Flashcards

1
Q

What anthology is Remains a part of?

A
  • Remains is a part of “The Not Dead” anthology.
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2
Q

Who is this poem based on?

A
  • Guardsman Tromans.
  • A man who was discharged from the army due to the fact he suffered from PTSD.
  • Involved in Iraq War.
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3
Q

What is Armitage’s message in this poem?

A
  • Show the severity of PTSD, what soldiers truly go through mentally.
  • Critiquing the fact that army/ general public don’t acknowledge the PTSD that these soldiers experience.
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4
Q

What is the significance of the title: “Remains?” What could it symbolically represent?

A
  • The “remaining” guilt/ PTSD the man feels after coming home.
  • The physical remains of the looters body - described in quite a grotesque manner.
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5
Q

Significance of poem starting: “on another occassion?”

A
  • In media res.
  • Shows chaos of the situation.
  • Further accentuated by the enjambement (in the middle of the poem) used by Armitage.
  • This chaos is how soldiers feel.
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6
Q

What is the significance of the phrase:” probably armed, possibly not?”

A
  • Plosives
  • Symbolising the explosions in Iraq.
  • He isn’t sure whether he is armed or not: this haunts him , mentally.
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7
Q

What is the significance of phrase: “myself and somebody else and somebody else?”

A
  • Rule of three.
  • Lack of clarity.
  • Shows how clouded mind of the soldier truly is.
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8
Q

What is the significance of the enjambement between stanza where looter is shot and when he is dead?

A
  • Shows the continuation of bullets flying.
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9
Q

What is significance of Armitage switching from past tense, in stanza when “all let fly”, to present tense in the following stanza?

A
  • Shows that the incident is always present in his mind - he can never forget about it.
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10
Q

What is the effect of the men all “letting fly”? Give 2 specific examples.
OTHER THAN COLQUIAL PHRASES USED.

A
  • “rips” through looter’s life.
  • “Image of agony.”
  • Serious language here juxtaposes coloquial language, shows that soldier is unable to make sense of situation.
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11
Q

Give examples of coloquial language used in poem?Significance?

A
  • “all letting fly.”
  • “Sort of inside out” (the looter)
  • “tosses his guts back into his body.”
  • Matter of fact/ coloquial tone.
  • Trying to desensitise himself from conflict/ has been desensitise/ doesn’t know how to thoroughly describe what has been seen - trauma!
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12
Q

What is the irony of the phrase “end of story?” Think structurally?

A
  • In middle of poem!
  • Still more of poem to go until story to finish - symbolising how the man’s trauma continues after he has left Iraq.
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13
Q

What is described as following the soldier week after week in streets?

A
  • “Blood- shadow.”
  • Haunting him.
  • Blood = symbol of guilt ie. his guilt is following him wherever he goes, can’t escape.
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14
Q

What is significance of phrases “sleep” and “dream” being used? Think what is said around these words.

A
  • Shows that the man haunts him in every moment - he can never relax: his mind feels plagued.
  • Repetition of phrase “possibly armed, probably not” around these words. Cyclical structure of incidet replaying in his mind over and over.
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15
Q

How is sibilance used towards the end of the poem? Significance?

A

“some distant, sun- stunned, sand- smothered land.”
Sibilance shows the dream like state that the soldier is in.

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16
Q

Conflict in poem?

A
  • Physical conflict of the shooting.
  • Mental conflict of the soldier.
17
Q

Power in conflict?

A
  • Man has power over the shooter’s mind and life.
18
Q

Significance: “his bloody life, in my bloody hands?”

A
  • “bloody” - coloquial language OR symbol of blood/ guilt.
  • Metaphor
  • Guilt for ending this man’s life. BUT they were “all letting fly” but he takes that responsibility personally.
  • Armitage showing how war affects people on a individual, personal level.