"Remains" was published by the British poet Simon Armitage in 2008 as part of his collection The Not Dead, a series of war poems based on the testimonies of ex-soldiers. Instead of detailing conflict, however, these poems confront the aftermath of war and the traumatic memories that ex-service people might struggle to cope with. "Remains" specifically focuses on a soldier who was involved with killing a man caught looting a bank during conflict in what is implied to be the Middle East. The poem is characteristic of Armitage’s conversational style, using colloquialisms and everyday speech patterns alongside vivid imagery to offer a realistic portrait of a person haunted by grief, guilt, and trauma.

• 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.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 5-8

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

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 8-10

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

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 11-13

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

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 14-16

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

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 17-20

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

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 20-24

    But I blink ...
    ... him out –

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 25-30

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

    

    

    

    

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• “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

    

    

    

    

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    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

    

    

    

    

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    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

    

    

    

    

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    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

    

    

    

    

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    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

    

    

    

    

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    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

    

    

    

    

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    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

    

    

    

    

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    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

    

    

    

    

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    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

    

    

    

    

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    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

    

    

    

    

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    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

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