Explore how the poems “Remains” and “Exposure” present conflict and
memory (30)
Both works ‘Remains’ and ‘Exposure’ address the psychological impact of conflict with intrinsic
themes of PTSD assigned to each protagonist. Stylistically, however, they display marginal divergence
due to Owen's employment of a fragmented ABBA rhyme scheme and visceral themes of nature.
Whereas, Armitage places emphasis on a colloquial narrative composed in free-verse to communicate
the depth of this rambling nature of speech.
Both works address the monotonous nature of war through structural devices: Owen’s work maintains
a fragmented ABBA rhyme scheme and a plethora of sibilance; ‘silent…salient’ and repetition of ‘but
nothing happens’ dislocates from ABBA, almost posing as a synopsis and communicating this
tortuous element of war. Whereas, Armitages absence of a conformed rhyme scheme and repetition of
stanza length echoes this undeviating life with PTSD, and beginning in media-res portrays the
urgency associated with conflict - Armitage completely subtracts any identity in his collectives of ‘we’
and ‘us,’ potentially to universalise the poem and shift blame onto a collective. Whereas Owen
characterises nature in order to scrutinise this urgency, where the ‘merciless iced east winds knive us’
- this anthropomorphised nature and plethora of sibilance coalesce to mimic the winds, and a
definitive ‘east’ direction subverts this idea of futility - nature is the superior enemy - where this ‘iced’
poses as synecdoche for the futility and static conditions in the trenches, to which a collective (‘us’)
confront.
Both works address the internal conflict during war, in Owens work somewhat ambiguous: repetition
of the collective, again, in ‘our brains ache’ can be interpreted phonetically with ‘our,’ adding a tone of
frustration to reinforce this disorientated thinking and propaganda that twists reality, or perhaps the
physical impacts of external temperature. This ‘silent night’ is not always silent, yet the conflict is -
conflict is at the forefront of the soldiers' minds: biblical allusion to the ‘holy night’ conveys the
blasphemy of conflict - when it is ‘silent,’ it is holy. This disorientation is reinforced by the ‘sentries
whisper’ - this litotes/metaphor communicates the ‘mad gusts’ and cacophony of a battlefield that
overpower the soldiers, where this ‘drooping flares’ almost provide imagery of a natural attack, from
above, directing towards the lower body - this conflict is strictly internal. Whereas Armitages’ work is
overtly internal, and subsequent to the volta is an entirely self-loathing narrative: ‘end of the story,
except not really’ is paradoxical and revises the ‘probably armed, possibly not’ - the murder was
increasingly long ago, echoed by the enjambment yet these ‘possibilities’ haunt the protagonist with
the same resonance, coinciding with the ‘blood shadow’ - spiritually, blood representing a bridge to
connection, symbolising a continuous spirit that is behind these ‘enemy lines’ - language from the
semantic field of conflict ‘dug… lines… burst… flush out’ are all sibilant to mimic this recoiling gunfire
internally, moreover this illusory barrier or ‘enemy line’ within his mind - this ‘enemy’ being his
hellish state.
memory (30)
Both works ‘Remains’ and ‘Exposure’ address the psychological impact of conflict with intrinsic
themes of PTSD assigned to each protagonist. Stylistically, however, they display marginal divergence
due to Owen's employment of a fragmented ABBA rhyme scheme and visceral themes of nature.
Whereas, Armitage places emphasis on a colloquial narrative composed in free-verse to communicate
the depth of this rambling nature of speech.
Both works address the monotonous nature of war through structural devices: Owen’s work maintains
a fragmented ABBA rhyme scheme and a plethora of sibilance; ‘silent…salient’ and repetition of ‘but
nothing happens’ dislocates from ABBA, almost posing as a synopsis and communicating this
tortuous element of war. Whereas, Armitages absence of a conformed rhyme scheme and repetition of
stanza length echoes this undeviating life with PTSD, and beginning in media-res portrays the
urgency associated with conflict - Armitage completely subtracts any identity in his collectives of ‘we’
and ‘us,’ potentially to universalise the poem and shift blame onto a collective. Whereas Owen
characterises nature in order to scrutinise this urgency, where the ‘merciless iced east winds knive us’
- this anthropomorphised nature and plethora of sibilance coalesce to mimic the winds, and a
definitive ‘east’ direction subverts this idea of futility - nature is the superior enemy - where this ‘iced’
poses as synecdoche for the futility and static conditions in the trenches, to which a collective (‘us’)
confront.
Both works address the internal conflict during war, in Owens work somewhat ambiguous: repetition
of the collective, again, in ‘our brains ache’ can be interpreted phonetically with ‘our,’ adding a tone of
frustration to reinforce this disorientated thinking and propaganda that twists reality, or perhaps the
physical impacts of external temperature. This ‘silent night’ is not always silent, yet the conflict is -
conflict is at the forefront of the soldiers' minds: biblical allusion to the ‘holy night’ conveys the
blasphemy of conflict - when it is ‘silent,’ it is holy. This disorientation is reinforced by the ‘sentries
whisper’ - this litotes/metaphor communicates the ‘mad gusts’ and cacophony of a battlefield that
overpower the soldiers, where this ‘drooping flares’ almost provide imagery of a natural attack, from
above, directing towards the lower body - this conflict is strictly internal. Whereas Armitages’ work is
overtly internal, and subsequent to the volta is an entirely self-loathing narrative: ‘end of the story,
except not really’ is paradoxical and revises the ‘probably armed, possibly not’ - the murder was
increasingly long ago, echoed by the enjambment yet these ‘possibilities’ haunt the protagonist with
the same resonance, coinciding with the ‘blood shadow’ - spiritually, blood representing a bridge to
connection, symbolising a continuous spirit that is behind these ‘enemy lines’ - language from the
semantic field of conflict ‘dug… lines… burst… flush out’ are all sibilant to mimic this recoiling gunfire
internally, moreover this illusory barrier or ‘enemy line’ within his mind - this ‘enemy’ being his
hellish state.
