Remains
- Created by: Jmsmcn
- Created on: 02-10-17 15:36
View mindmap
- Remains
- Form
- There is no regular line length or rhye scheme making it sound like a story
- The speakerr uses the first person plural but changes to the first person singular
- This makes it more personal and sound like a confession
- In the final couplet both lines has the same metre
- This gives a feeling of finality and hints that the guilty will stay with him
- "Then I'm home on leave"
- Short simple sentence suggests he thinks when he goes home he will forget the terrible things he has seen
- The suddenness of the line also hints at the speaker being confused
- Untitled
- "blink"
- The stanza ending reflects the blinking
- The enjambment carries you forward and the horror is still there when you reach the next stanza
- "Sleep,", "Dream,"
- Short word separated from the rest of the line by casurea sound like gun shots
- "some distant, sun-stunned, sand-smothered land"
- The violent parts of the compound adjectives show how the place is affected by war
- The long line and the sibilance slow the pace and reflect the speaker's lack of clear thought
- "my"
- There is no collective responsibility - he feels fully responsible
- "bloody hands"
- Possible reference to Macbeth
- After persuading her husband to kill Duncan Lady Macbeth sleepwalks and tries to wash imaginary blood from her hands
- This hints that the speaker was unbalanced by his guilty like Lady Macbeth was.
- Possible reference to Macbeth
- "I"
- Poetic voice switches to an "I". This is now more personal
- Structure
- The poem begins as if it is an amusing anecdote but it quickly turns into a graphic description of am man's death
- There is a clear volta at the beginning of the 5th stanza where the soldier's tone, thoughts, and emotions are changed by guilt
- "On another occasion"
- Sounds like on series of stories, and the reader is listening in
- "probably armed, possibly not."
- There is doubt here which contrasts with the definite actions that follow
- "open fire"
- This comes as a surprise as the sudden violence does not fit the casual tone
- "End of story, except not really"
- This is the volta in the poem
- The speaker's mood changes
- "dug in behind enemy lines"
- The metaphor compares the memory stuck in his mind to a soldier in a trench
- "his bloody life"
- Bloody could mean the man's blood
- Or he could be swearing in anger
- Graphic Imagery
- The man's death is described in gory detail, with the implication that his gut have spilt out onto the ground
- The imagery reminds the reader of the horror of war but it also shows how desensisited the speaker had bescome to violence and death
- They had become part of his daily life
- "it rips though his life"
- This violent metaphor contrasts shockingly with the colloquial style of the first two stanzas
- "broad daylight on the other side"
- this is quite a grotesque exaggerated image
- He says he can see straight through the bullet holes in the man's body
- "his blood shadow stays on the street"
- A visual reminder of death
- It foreshadows the memories that are going to haunt him
- Colloquial Language
- The first 4 stanzas have a lot of chatty, familiar language which helps to make the poem sound like somebody telling a story
- This language also trivializes the man's death
- "legs it"
- Colloquial expression - this makes it sound like a normal anecdote
- "sort of inside out"
- This is a childish description of the man's body
- He is unable to process it in an adult way
- This is a childish description of the man's body
- "and tosses his guts back into his body./Then he's carted off in the back of a lorry"
- Two very causal cold actions
- There is no respect for the dead man, he is made to sound like a piece of rubbish
- Repetition
- Words are repeated to reflect the way the killing is repeated in the speaker's mind
- "all", "all three", "three", "all"
- The speaker is keen for the reader to know it was not just him
- He feels guilty
- The speaker is keen for the reader to know it was not just him
- "I see", "I see"
- This emphasises the visual horror of the scene
- "Probably armed, possibly not"
- Repetition of line 4 shows he is replay the events in his mind
- Hints at his inner turmoil
- Feelings
- Nonchalance
- There is a very casual attitude to the whole event initially (it is anecdotal)
- He is shot without warming and his body is carted off
- Guilt
- The speaker cannot get the memory out of his mind
- He is tormented by the man - especially wondering if he was armed
- The poem ends with the speaker accepting his guilt
- Nonchalance
- Form
Comments
No comments have yet been made