Remains
"another occasion"
uses anecdotal language suggesting it is one of many events
"probably armed, possibly not"
undermimes the severity of the statement, if he was not armed, should he have been shot?
a03
Based on the true story of Guardsman Tromans, who was a machine gunner in Iraq war in 2003
Simon Armitage
born 1963 in Huddersfield
Not about his own experiences
STRUCTURE
Begins in medias res
immediately not aware of the situation of before, Give the feel of the lack of ease that the soldiers would've felt
Nothing is neatly organised, and more chaotic. don't know the full story like the soldiers wouldn't have known but just sent there.
"somebody else and somebody else"
syntactically structures the sentence to make him not seem alone. Uses repetition to show how he wasn't the only one who killed the looter.
deflects the blame from the soldier alone.
doesn't want to accept the lone or solitary blame.
Also the idea of not knowing their names.
"HIS BLOODY LIFE, IN MY BLOODY HANDS"
"my" marks a shift as the poem ends with the acknowledgement that they are taking responsibility, that on leave not in the war zone, he deals with the consequences alone. The effect on him.
"I see every round as it rips through his life"
enjambment through the lines but also a whole stanza break. causes the reader to stop. This moment as the soldier shot the looter is the big moment of his life. It has ruined his life and from this point on he becomes a broken man.
Even on leave he uses drugs and drink but ultimately he cannot get over the trauma caused in the war. idea the effects don't just switch off when you go home, its power can over rule your mind
Repeated, gives the poem a cyclical structure as we are taken to the near beginning. Shows the trauma the soldier has experienced is inescapable.
Title
The parts left over when other parts have been used, removed or destroyed. shows how the soldier has been used in the machine of war and all that is left is no good to anybody. he is broken mentally now
or like a persons body after death. As a war poem is a key meaning, death, however he doesn't die physically but metaphorically something inside of him does die.
"blood shaddow' - physical remain
Colloquial language - shows how it was an everyday event, conversational. doesn't stay as when he shoots him changes to violent imagery.
Juxtaposed 2 different types of language to paint a stronger image of the before and after effects of conflict on the soldier, from care free and relaxed to severally traumatised.
no resolution