“Remains” Introduction

• Read the full text of “Remains”

“Remains” Summary

“Remains” Themes

• 

  War, Guilt, and Trauma

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-30

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Remains”

• Lines 1-4

  On another occasion, ...
  ... armed, possibly not.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 5-8

  Well myself and ...
  ... all letting fly,

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 8-10

  and I swear ...
  ... the other side.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 11-13

  So we’ve hit ...
  ... image of agony.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 14-16

  One of my ...
  ... of a lorry.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 17-20

  End of story, ...
  ... home on leave.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 20-24

  But I blink ...
  ... him out –

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 25-30

  he’s here in ...
  ... my bloody hands.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

“Remains” Symbols

• 

  Blood

  Where this symbol appears in the poem:

  • Lines 18-19: “His blood-shadow stays on the street, and out on patrol / I walk right over it week after week.”
  • Line 30: “his bloody life in my bloody hands.”

“Remains” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where enjambment appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-2: “out / to”
  • Lines 5-6: “else / are”
  • Lines 8-9: “swear / I”
  • Lines 11-12: “times / and”
  • Lines 14-15: “by / and”
  • Lines 18-19: “patrol / I”
  • Lines 20-21: “blink / and”
  • Lines 27-28: “land / or”

• Colloquialism

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where colloquialism appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-2: “we got sent out / to tackle looters”
  • Line 3: “legs it,” “ up the road”
  • Line 6: “are all of the same mind”
  • Line 8: “letting fly”
  • Line 10: “broad daylight”
  • Line 12: “sort of inside out”
  • Line 14: “One of my mates ”
  • Line 15: “tosses his guts”
  • Line 16: “carted off,” “ in the back of a lorry”
  • Line 28: “six-feet-under”
  • Line 30: “his bloody life in my bloody hands”

• Repetition

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where repetition appears in the poem:

  • Line 4: “probably armed, possibly not.”
  • Line 5: “and somebody else and somebody else”
  • Line 6: “all”
  • Line 7: “all,” “three”
  • Line 8: “Three,” “all”
  • Line 9: “I see ”
  • Line 10: “I see ”
  • Line 15: “back”
  • Line 16: “back”
  • Line 19: “week after week”
  • Line 22: “and he’s ,” “probably armed, and possibly not”
  • Line 23: “and he’s ,” “torn apart by a dozen rounds”
  • Line 30: “bloody life in my bloody hands”

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where alliteration appears in the poem:

  • Line 2: “t,” “t”
  • Line 4: “p,” “p”
  • Line 5: “s,” “s”
  • Line 6: “s”
  • Line 7: “s”
  • Line 9: “r,” “r”
  • Line 10: “s”
  • Line 11: “S”
  • Line 12: “i”
  • Line 13: “i,” “i”
  • Line 14: “m,” “m”
  • Line 15: “b,” “b”
  • Line 16: “b”
  • Line 17: “E,” “e”
  • Line 18: “st,” “st”
  • Line 19: “w,” “w,” “w”
  • Line 20: “B,” “b”
  • Line 21: “b,” “b”
  • Line 22: “p,” “p”
  • Line 23: “D,” “d”
  • Line 24: “dr,” “dr”
  • Line 25: “h,” “h,” “h”
  • Line 26: “d”
  • Line 27: “d,” “s,” “d,” “s,” “s,” “s,” “s”
  • Line 28: “s,” “d,” “s”
  • Line 29: “n,” “kn”
  • Line 30: “bl,” “bl”

• Sibilance

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where sibilance appears in the poem:

  • Line 5: “s,” “s,” “s,” “s,” “s”
  • Line 18: “sh,” “s,” “s,” “s”
  • Line 27: “s,” “s,” “s,” “s,” “s,” “s”
  • Line 28: “s,” “x,” “s,” “s”

• Imagery

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where imagery appears in the poem:

  • Lines 9-10: “I see every round as it rips through his life – / I see broad daylight on the other side.”
  • Line 12: “on the ground, sort of inside out”
  • Line 13: “pain itself, the image of agony.”
  • Lines 14-15: “One of my mates goes by / and tosses his guts back into his body.”
  • Line 18: “His blood-shadow stays on the street”
  • Line 19: “I walk right over it week after week.”
  • Line 23: “he’s torn apart by a dozen rounds.”
  • Line 30: “his bloody life in my bloody hands.”

• Consonance

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where consonance appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “cc,” “t,” “t,” “t”
  • Line 2: “t,” “t,” “ck,” “l,” “l,” “t,” “k”
  • Line 4: “p,” “b,” “bl,” “p,” “bl”
  • Line 5: “ll,” “m,” “s,” “l,” “s,” “m,” “l,” “s,” “s,” “m,” “l,” “s”
  • Line 6: “ll,” “s,” “m,” “m”
  • Line 7: “ll”
  • Line 8: “ll,” “l,” “s”
  • Line 9: “s,” “r,” “r,” “r,” “r”
  • Line 10: “s,” “r,” “d,” “d,” “th,” “th,” “s,” “d”
  • Line 11: “S,” “t,” “s,” “t,” “d,” “t”
  • Line 12: “d,” “s,” “s,” “d”
  • Line 13: “g”
  • Line 14: “m,” “m,” “g,” “b”
  • Line 15: “t,” “ss,” “g,” “ts,” “b,” “ck,” “b”
  • Line 16: “c,” “b,” “ck,” “rr”
  • Line 17: “st,” “r,” “c,” “t,” “t,” “r”
  • Line 18: “d,” “d,” “st,” “st,” “t,” “t,” “t”
  • Line 19: “w,” “k,” “t,” “t,” “w,” “k,” “w,” “k”
  • Line 20: “B,” “b,” “k”
  • Line 21: “b,” “b,” “k”
  • Line 22: “p,” “p,” “b,” “bl,” “p,” “bl”
  • Line 23: “Dr,” “r,” “r,” “d,” “r,” “d”
  • Line 24: “dr,” “dr”
  • Line 25: “h,” “h,” “h,” “d”
  • Line 26: “d,” “h,” “n,” “d,” “n,” “n”
  • Line 27: “n,” “f,” “t,” “f,” “d,” “d,” “n,” “s,” “d,” “st,” “nt,” “s,” “n,” “st,” “nn,” “d,” “s,” “n,” “d,” “s,” “d,” “n,” “d”
  • Line 28: “s,” “x,” “f,” “t,” “n,” “d,” “n,” “d,” “s,” “n,” “d”
  • Line 29: “n,” “kn,” “nd,” “n”
  • Line 30: “bl,” “d,” “l,” “n,” “bl,” “d,” “n,” “d”

• Caesura

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where caesura appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “occasion, we”
  • Line 4: “armed, possibly”
  • Line 8: “fly, and”
  • Line 12: “ground, sort”
  • Line 13: “itself, the”
  • Line 17: “story, except”
  • Line 18: “street, and”
  • Line 20: “leave. But”
  • Line 22: “Sleep, and,” “armed, and”
  • Line 23: “Dream, and”
  • Line 27: “distant, sun-stunned, sand-smothered”
  • Line 29: “knuckle, here”

• Polysyndeton

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where polysyndeton appears in the poem:

  • Line 5: “Well myself and somebody else and somebody else”
  • Line 22: “and he’s probably armed, and possibly not.”
  • Line 24: “And the drink and the drugs”

• Assonance

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where assonance appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “a”
  • Line 2: “ai,” “a”
  • Line 3: “e,” “e”
  • Line 4: “o,” “o,” “o”
  • Line 5: “e,” “e,” “e,” “e”
  • Line 6: “i”
  • Line 7: “i”
  • Line 8: “i,” “y,” “I”
  • Line 9: “i,” “i,” “i,” “i”
  • Line 10: “i,” “i”
  • Line 11: “i”
  • Line 12: “ou,” “i,” “ou”
  • Line 13: “y”
  • Line 15: “o,” “o,” “y”
  • Line 16: “o,” “o,” “y”
  • Line 17: “E,” “y,” “e,” “e,” “y”
  • Line 18: “ee,” “o”
  • Line 19: “o,” “ee,” “ee”
  • Line 20: “o,” “eav”
  • Line 22: “ee,” “o,” “y,” “o,” “y,” “o”
  • Line 23: “ea”
  • Line 24: “u,” “u”
  • Line 25: “y,” “I,” “eye”
  • Line 26: “i,” “i”
  • Line 27: “e,” “ea,” “u,” “u,” “a,” “o,” “a”
  • Line 28: “u,” “a”
  • Line 29: “ea,” “u,” “e”
  • Line 30: “oo,” “i,” “y,” “oo,” “a”

“Remains” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Looter
• Legs it
• Armed
• Letting fly
• Round
• Agony
• Lorry
• Blood-shadow
• Out on patrol
• Home on leave
• Sun-stunned
• Sand-smothered

• (Location in poem: Line 2: “looters”; Line 11: “looter”)

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Remains”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Remains” Speaker

“Remains” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Remains”

More “Remains” Resources

• External Resources

  • "The Not Dead" Review — A short review of the collection in which "Remains" is published.

  • "The Remains" Read Aloud by a Soldier — A British soldier who served in Iraq reads Armitage's poem in a Channel 4 documentary.

  • Simon Armitage on Poetry — An interview in which Armitage discusses the importance of poetry and why he writes. 

  • PTSD and Shell Shock — A breakdown of the history of post-war trauma.

  • Armitage's Biography — An overview of all of Simon Armitage's life and work from the Poetry Foundation.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Simon Armitage

  • Chainsaw Versus the Pampas Grass

  • Hitcher

  • Mother, any distance

  • Out of the Blue (Excerpt)

  • The Manhunt