Comparing the Impact of Conflict in Poetry
Mental trauma is a central theme in both poems, showing how conflict scars people long after the fighting ends. In "Remains", Armitage presents a soldier haunted by memories of shooting a looter, using casual, conversational language that contrasts sharply with the violent content. This creates an unsettling effect - the soldier seems almost numb to what happened.
Duffy's war photographer faces similar mental torment as he develops images from conflict zones. The "spools of suffering" metaphor shows how each photograph unlocks traumatic memories, turning victims into haunting images that refuse to leave his mind.
Both poets use vivid, gruesome imagery to show conflict's physical impact. Armitage describes the looter left "inside out" with his guts spilling, whilst Duffy writes about "blood stained into foreign dust". However, they deliberately use everyday language to describe these horrors.
Key Point: The casual tone makes the violence even more shocking because it suggests these brutal scenes have become ordinary for the speakers.
The poems explore how blame and morality become complicated during warfare. The soldier in "Remains" uses phrases like "we got sent out" to shift responsibility, suggesting he's following orders rather than making personal choices. Similarly, Duffy criticises newspaper editors and readers who ignore the suffering, questioning where true responsibility lies.