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“Remains” Introduction
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“Remains” Summary
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“Remains” Themes
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War, Guilt, and Trauma
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-30
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Remains”
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Lines 1-4
On another occasion, ...
... armed, possibly not. -
Lines 5-8
Well myself and ...
... all letting fly, -
Lines 8-10
and I swear ...
... the other side. -
Lines 11-13
So we’ve hit ...
... image of agony. -
Lines 14-16
One of my ...
... of a lorry. -
Lines 17-20
End of story, ...
... home on leave. -
Lines 20-24
But I blink ...
... him out – -
Lines 25-30
he’s here in ...
... my bloody hands.
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“Remains” Symbols
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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.”
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“Remains” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Enjambment
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”
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Colloquialism
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”
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Repetition
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”
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Alliteration
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”
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Sibilance
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”
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Imagery
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.”
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Consonance
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”
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Caesura
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”
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Polysyndeton
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”
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Assonance
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”
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“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
Looter-
(Location in poem: Line 2: “looters”; Line 11: “looter”)
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Remains”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Remains” Speaker
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“Remains” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Remains”
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More “Remains” Resources
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External Resources
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"The Not Dead" Review — A short review of the collection in which "Remains" is published.
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"The Remains" Read Aloud by a Soldier — A British soldier who served in Iraq reads Armitage's poem in a Channel 4 documentary.
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Simon Armitage on Poetry — An interview in which Armitage discusses the importance of poetry and why he writes.
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PTSD and Shell Shock — A breakdown of the history of post-war trauma.
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Armitage's Biography — An overview of all of Simon Armitage's life and work from the Poetry Foundation.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Simon Armitage
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