🤕 Remains 🤕
Simon Armitage (Author)
poems to compare
key quotes
He does not write from a personal experience
His poems were from a collection called 'The Not Dead'
Charge of the Light Brigade
Similarities
Differences
"Well myself and somebody else and somebody else"
Remains lacks the usual dark humour found in Armitage's poems and instead illustrates a dark and disturbing image of a soldier at war
the soldiers are always nameless- this shows a disconnection within the unity of the army as, even though they are there to do the same thing, they do not know any more details about one another
illustrates to the reader that the soldiers are in the same dangerous situation as the looter is, therefore it shows there is no point getting to know people as you could lose them so easily
"Probably armed, possibly not"
"probably"- the soldiers expect violence and it is always their first thought before anything else, they are wired to think like this
this highlights the brutality of the warfare- that you do not even need to be 100% that a person is guilty, you just have to disconnect your brain and kill them
Bayonet Charge
Similarities
Both present the lasting effects of war- Bayonet charge uses a metaphor of a 'yellow hare' and how its mouth is 'wide' and 'open silent' (lasting and shocking effects), Remains creates a visual lasting impact 'blood shadow stays on the street'
Both poets are fearful- Bayonet Charge 'his sweat heavy' is a metaphor for the physical impact of his fear, Remains shows a mental fear 'and he bursts again through the doors', shows the same level of fear each time he replays the events in his head
Differences
Remains explores the guilt the soldiers feel after warfare- 'his bloody life in my bloody hands' but in Bayonet charge the action is taking place in the moment shown by the poem written in media res 'suddenly he awoke and was running'
In both poems the soldiers are desensitised to war and will serve the military will blind obedience- COTLB 'someone had blundered' and 'we get sent out' shows how they do not question leaders orders they must do it even when they know it may be wrong
Both show the reality of war vs what the propaganda shows- COTLB 'into the jaws of death, like signing up for the war was walking into the jaws of death, remains 'home on leave. But I blink' shows he cannot remove the image from his mind showing the reality of the effects war can leave you with
Remains shows the reality of the effects of war whereas COTLB glorifies the effects that these soldiers have made on society- COTLB 'when will their glory fade?', Remains 'end of story, except not really'
Memory is presented differently- Remains shows the memory as something which he will never and cannot forget, 'he's here is my head when I close my eyes', COTLB shows the memory as something valiant and honourable, 'Noble six hundred'
"dug in behind enemy lines"
the 'enemy' could be a metaphor for his brain refusing to forget the memory, however, also leave the reader questioning who is the real enemy, the leaders of the army or the looter
the verb 'dug' suggests that the memory is etched deep into his brain making it difficult to remove
the verb 'dug' also suggests that the memory is far down into his brain, covered over by everyday troubles, yet it still remains
Structure/ form
Volta
"Then I’m home on leave. But I blink
and he bursts again through the doors of the bank"
Volta between the end of stanza 5 and the start of stanza 6- the pace and tension changes as he renters back into the memory and all the trauma that comes back with it
written in media res
places the reader straight into the action
shows that the soldiers can never truly rest, mentally or physically