Hello everyone.

Welcome to your lesson today on analysing the poem "Remains".

I'm Miss Sutherland and I'll be teaching you today.

You are going to need your copy of the "AQA Power and Conflict Anthology" for this lesson.

So before you go any further, make sure you go and grab your anthology and then continue with this lesson.

Our learning outcome for today is to be able to explore how Armitage uses language and structure to explore the long lasting trauma of war.

Our three key words for today's lesson are trauma.

Trauma is the emotional response to a deeply disturbing or distressing experience.

Harrowing.

Harrowing means extremely disturbing.

And, intrusive.

Intrusive means causing disruption through being unwanted.

These key words are crucial in understanding and analysing the poem "Remains".

So pause the video and reread or make a note of the definitions now.

Great job.

In today's lesson, we'll first start off by analysing how trauma is shown in "Remains" and then we'll explore conflict in "Remains".

So let's start off with analysing how trauma is shown in "Remains".

Armitage uses the speaker in "Remains" to highlight the horrific effects of war and subsequent PTSD that many veterans suffer with.

In the poem the speaker describes having to attend to a bank raiding incident during war.

In this situation, he ends up killing another person.

Discuss what clues does Armitage give in the poem to show that this was a traumatic experience.

Think about Armitage's language and structural choices.

Pause the video and discuss that now.

Let's now go through how Armitage depicts the speaker's experience at war as traumatic.

So we see trauma in "Remains" through the enjambment and caesura.

The enjambment shows how Armitage cannot control how the memory seeps in.

The enjambment shows how Armitage cannot control how his memories of war seep in to his everyday life.

And the caesura reflects how when Armitage is supposed to feel safe when he is home, he does not feel that at all.

There no sense of separation for Armitage when it comes to thinking about his traumatic memories.

The use of collective pronouns on line 7 to 8 also reflect the trauma in "Remains".

So on line 7 to 8, Armitage suggests that the death of the looter is the responsibility of three people and this is suggestive of trauma because it seems that the speaker cannot take responsibility for this event because of how traumatised he is by it.

Now also, the graphic language with "rips" and "agony" speak to the trauma of the speaker because he replays the death of the looter in a really graphic and horrific way and witnessing that is bound to lead to long lasting trauma on the speaker's part.

And lastly, the intrusive thoughts revealed on the soldier's return home, for example, on line 20 to 21 shows how potentially the speaker has PTSD as a result of the atrocities he has witnessed.

Let's explore exactly how each example links to trauma now.

So line 7 to 8.

Syntactic parallelism is when similar syntactic structures repeat across adjacent lines.

For example, "three of.

three of" is repeated.

Why do you think Armitage repeats "three of" on line 7 to 8? We have briefly touched on it, but can you articulate it in your own words? Discuss now.

Armitage may have been showing how the speaker's guilt is so overwhelming that he has no choice but to reaffirm the fact that three soldiers were involved in this killing in order to soothe his own conscience.

Now, stanza 3.

What do you notice about the language in stanza 3 and how might it link to trauma? Pause the video and discuss.

The language in stanza 3 is very graphic perhaps showing the harrowing occurrences that the soldier has witnessed.

"Sort of" reflects how the horrific images at war cannot ever be explained through words.

So the horrific and graphic language in stanza 3 explains where the speaker's trauma has come from.

Now let's look at lines 20 to 21.

I want you to discuss how the alliteration and enjambment on line 20 to 21 showed trauma.

Pause the video and discuss.

The impacts of the plosive alliteration mirrors the force of the intrusive force the speaker experiences when he's back home.

And the enjambment may also reflect how the haunting memories of war infiltrate his ordinary life.

The impacts of the plosive alliteration mirrors the force of the intrusive thoughts the speaker experiences So in line 20 we have the plosive alliteration of the letter of the sound b, and that the harsh alliteration mirrors how harsh and sudden those intrusive thoughts come to the speaker's mind.

The enjambment may also reflect how the haunting memories of war infiltrate his ordinary life.

So just like enjambment involves one line going onto the other and almost never ending, that could reflect how the traumatic haunting memories fill the speaker's life and do not seem to ever go away or stop.

The use of plosive alliteration in line 20 to 21 reflects the grief of the soldier's family, the intrusive thoughts of the soldier or the soldier taking responsibility for ending someone's life? Answer that question to check your understanding of what we've talked about so far.

Pause the video.

Off you go.

The plosive alliteration in lines 20 and 21 reflects the intrusive thoughts of the soldier.

We said how the alliteration of the b sounds represents the sudden and intrusive nature of the thoughts that creep into the soldier's mind unannounced and uninvited.

I now want you to just think about what is the effect of this syntactic parallelism in the poem? Is it to show the soldier trying to cope with his guilt? Is it to show the intrusive thoughts of the soldier? Or is it to show the harrowing occurrences the soldier's witnessed? Pause the video and answer that question now.

The syntactic parallelism when Armitage repeats "three of" shows the soldier trying to cope with his guilt because at this point the soldier or the speaker cannot accept his responsibility that he played in the looter's death.

Speaking of his involvement in that group helps him to cope with the atrocity he committed.

I now want you to use the questions to discuss how Armitage presents the trauma associated with war.

So look at line 4 and answer how might this thought add to the speaker's trauma? Next, look at line 15 and answer why do you think "tosses" was used? Then look at line 18 and zoom into "blood" and "shadow".

Line 20, what is the effect of the caesura on line 20? Line 24, how does this reflect the reality of life for some veterans after returning home? On line 26 to 29, how does Armitage juxtapose public assumptions about war? So there you have six questions to discuss and they each relate to a different part of the poem.

Pause the video and get discussing now.

Here are some ideas.

So line 4, the speaker's guilt is perpetuated by the idea of the looter maybe being harmless.

So essentially we see that the speaker may feel even more guilty because the looter may not have had intentions to harm anyone or cause any death himself, in which case the guilt the speaker feels for killing that looter is intensified.

And perhaps the thought that the looter was a harmless individual adds to the haunting memories of that incident for the speaker.

Line 15.

Line 15 may reflect how soldiers become desensitised and numb to the horrific violence they witness every day.

Line 18, blood reminds me of guilt and shadow suggests a long lasting guilt and mirrors the past creeping into the present.

So blood and shadow could show how the guilt that the speaker feels remains for a very long time.

Line 20, the caesura mirrors the security and calm the soldier should have felt returning home.

But this is interrupted by the intrusive thoughts and memories of war.

Line 24.

Many veterans suffer with alcohol disorders perhaps to cope with their trauma.

It may suggest how they aren't adequately supported by society.

Line 26 to 29.

Many people might assume that soldiers can easily leave the bloodshed and death behind as it occurs on foreign territory.

But Armitage subverts this assumption because we see the way in which despite being back home, the speaker is still haunted and still has images of the violence that occurred on foreign territory and the geographical location of that conflict does not determine how likely it is to stay in a soldier's brain.

It reminds us that any loss of life, no matter where it occurs, no matter in which war zone it occurs, is still a huge deal and is still deeply haunting for anyone that's witnessed it.

Now let's explore the big idea of conflict in "Remains".

We'll now try and link "Remains" back to the anthology theme of power and conflict.

So what big ideas relating to conflict does "Remains" explore? Pause the video and have a quick think about that now.

So let's go through some ideas.

"Remains" exposes the harrowing nature of conflict.

"Remains" talks about appearance versus reality.

So that's a conflict between appearance versus and reality.

And that's shown for the way in which the speaker is safe in reality when back at home but doesn't feel safe because of his traumatic memories.

He feels very much unsafe.

So his reality is skewed by what his brain is telling him.

We also see a conflict between past and present in this poem.

We see how the present is very much affected by the past, especially for the speaker who suffers from PTSD.

We see the speaker's mental battle with PTSD.

That's another form of conflict shown in this poem.

We see how man has conflict with his conscience through the emotion of guilt.

And we also see how "Remains" explores conflict between national and personal duty because we are told that this speaker was sent out and perhaps the actions that the speaker commits after being sent out are not in line with what he would've done if he had the choice.

Now let's answer this question to check our understanding.

"Sent" on line 1 of the poem hints at what type of conflict? Appearance versus reality, past versus present or national versus personal duty? Pause the video and have a think.

"Sent" on line 1 of the poem hints at the conflict between national and personal duty 'cause we've talked about the fact that the soldier had a national duty to go and attack the looters, hence he was sent by his commander.

But Armitage makes us also reflect on the idea that perhaps the speaker would not have chosen to do this if it was up to him.

Perhaps it conflicts with his personal morals and conscience.

Here's your next question to check your understanding of the poem.

The poem is written in blank tense, which reveals what? I want you to fill in the blank and explain what it reveals.

Pause the video and answer that question.

The poem is written in present tense, and this reveals that the soldier continues to be affected by his memories of war.

The poem is written at this moment and in this moment the soldier is affected by the past.

So Armitage has used this tense purposefully to show how the present is very much affected by the past for a veteran.

Now here's some Oak pupils discussing their ideas about the poem.

Sam says, "'Remains' reveals that physical conflict at war inevitably breeds more damaging mental conflict." And Sophia says, "I agree.

I think Armitage was trying to raise awareness of the invisible struggles of veterans, which seems even more harrowing than their experience of war itself." To what extent do you agree with the Oak pupil's ideas? Pause the video and have a reflection about what you think about Sam and Sophia's ideas.

Off you go.

I now want you to write a paragraph justifying your ideas with quotes and analysis from the poem.

So you need to write about whose idea you agree with, why you agree with it, and what evidence from the poem causes you to agree with it.

Pause the video and write your paragraph now.

Great effort with your writing there.

Remember, forming your own opinion about a poem really does prepare you to conduct great analysis on that poem.

In fact, part of analysis is actually forming your own judgement and your own critical awareness of a poem.

Now I want you to reread your work and self-assess.

Did you mention the different types of conflict explored in the poem and their relationship? So for example, this could be physical conflict, this could be mental conflict, this could be conflict within your conscience, this could be conflict between past and present.

All the types of conflict that we discussed earlier in this learning cycle would be relevant in your paragraph.

What type of conflict Armitage presents as most harrowing, if any? Armitage's use of language and structure to expose the effects of conflict.

And possible reasons why Armitage wrote the poem drawing upon contextual information about his documentary, "The Not Dead".

If you missed anything, use the bullet points above to improve your response.

Pause the video and self-assess now.

Well done for being so reflective and willing to improve your work.

Great job.

Let's go through what we've learned.

Armitage uses language and structure to expose the traumatic events in war.

Enjambment and caesura may reflect the soldier's disturbed mind and lack of control over his emotions.

Syntactic parallelism is used to demonstrate the soldier's ongoing battle with his accountability.

The imagery in lines 26, 29 contrasts the distant war zone highlighting the public's false view of their separation from war.

And the present tense reflects the power of the past in the present.

I hope this has given you lots of great ideas when it comes to analysing the poem "Remains".

Thank you so much for joining me.