Year 12–13 / Grades 11–12
Remains by Simon Armitage — two lessons
Lesson 1 starts with students mapping out the narrative arc of the poem. The teacher then demonstrates how Armitage uses everyday language and present-tense phrases like "he's here in my head" to bring past events and present trauma closer together. After that, students annotate the final four lines on their own. In Lesson 2, the focus shifts to writing. The teacher shows how to incorporate context—like PTSD, The Not Dead, and the moral complexities of the Iraq War—into an analytical paragraph. Students then write a full exam-style response that compares Armitage's approach to guilt with that of another war poem. By the end, students are equipped to analyze language and structure and craft a well-supported, contextual argument.
Objectives
- Analyse how Armitage uses colloquial diction and first-person voice to construct the soldier's psychological state across the poem.
- Explain how the shift from past to present tense in lines such as 'he's here in my head' enacts the intrusive nature of traumatic memory.
- Identify and interpret the structural significance of the final couplet — 'dug in behind enemy lines / in my head for as long as I live' — as a turn from narrative to psychological entrapment.
- Evaluate how Armitage's context (The Not Dead, Iraq War, PTSD testimony) shapes the poem's moral ambiguity around the phrase 'myself and somebody else and somebody else'.
- Write a sustained, evidenced analytical paragraph that embeds quotation, language analysis, and relevant context to argue a clear interpretive point about guilt or trauma in 'Remains'.
The sequence
Lesson 1: What the poem does to you: close reading 'Remains'
60 min · ch. 1- Do now
Without looking at any notes, jot down three sentences: (1) Identify the speaker and their current location. (2) What specific event is depicted in the poem? (3) Write one word or phrase from the poem that has resonated with you and explain why. You have five minutes — begin as soon as you take a seat.
- Teacher input
Using the final four lines on the visualiser — 'his bloody life in my bloody hands' through to 'dug in behind enemy lines / in my head for as long as I live' — demonstrate how the repeated word 'bloody' serves both as a colloquial intensifier and a literal reference to blood. Additionally, discuss how the military metaphor 'dug in behind enemy lines' transforms the soldier's mind into a battlefield. Guide students on how to annotate: pinpoint the device, provide exact quotes, and then clarify the impact on the reader's grasp of PTSD.
- Independent task
Students will annotate the first stanza ('On another occasion, we get sent out / to tackle looters raiding a bank' through to 'myself and somebody else and somebody else') with a focus on three specific choices: (1) the ambiguous pronoun cluster 'myself and somebody else and somebody else', which suggests shared and diffused moral responsibility; (2) the informal phrase 'we get sent out', which illustrates how passive agency casts the soldier as an instrument rather than an active agent; and (3) the term 'tackle', which carries a sporting connotation that contrasts sharply with the violence that follows. Students will compose three analytical sentences—one for each choice—using the Point–Evidence–Effect structure demonstrated in teacher input. This will be collected at the end of the lesson.
- Exit ticket
In two sentences, explain what the military metaphor 'dug in behind enemy lines' tells us about the soldier's relationship with his own memory of the shooting.
Lesson 2: Writing about guilt and memory: the exam-style paragraph
60 min · ch. 1- Do now
Read the following prompt silently: 'How does Armitage present the psychological consequences of war in Remains?' Underline every word in that question that indicates your task or highlights your focus, then write a single sentence outlining the argument you would make in response. You have five minutes — no talking.
- Teacher input
On the board, display a weak paragraph that paraphrases the phrase 'sort of inside out' by saying 'this shows the man was badly hurt.' Model the upgrade live: point out the figurative inversion — the body being turned inside out reflects the soldier's own psychological turmoil, revealing his internal struggles that are now visible and unmanageable. Then, incorporate the context that Armitage based the poem on a real veteran's testimony for The Not Dead (2008), adding both documentary and literary significance to the image. Show students how to differentiate between merely mentioning context and using it as evidence to support an interpretive claim.
- Independent task
Students are tasked with writing a complete exam-style paragraph (around 150–200 words) in response to the prompt: 'How does Armitage use language and structure to convey guilt as inescapable in Remains?' The paragraph should contain: a clear topic sentence that presents a debatable assertion; at least two embedded quotations from different parts of the poem (students should select from the lines discussed in both lessons); language analysis identifying a specific technique for each quotation; and a sentence that links the poem's impact to its context within The Not Dead or the Iraq War. Students will submit the paragraph on a half-sheet of paper, including their name and the prompt at the top.
- Exit ticket
Write one sentence explaining how you used context in your paragraph today — what did knowing about The Not Dead or PTSD allow you to argue that a purely textual reading would not?
Activities
Tense-tracking annotation 15 min · pairs
Each pair gets a printed copy of 'Remains' along with two colored pens. They underline past-tense verbs in one color and present-tense verbs in another. Next, they draw a line in the margin to indicate where the tense shifts start to happen more often. Pairs then write two sentences on a sticky note explaining what the rising density of present-tense phrases — like 'he's here in my head' and 'he's dug in' — implies about the soldier's declining mental state. The sticky notes are then posted on a shared class timeline on the board.
Moral ambiguity debate: was the shooting justified? 20 min · groups
Groups of four will receive five quotations from the poem on cards: 'probably armed, possibly not'; 'myself and somebody else and somebody else'; 'we get sent out'; 'his bloody life in my bloody hands'; 'dug in behind enemy lines'. Each group must rank these quotations from 'most to least morally ambiguous' and provide a brief spoken report justifying their ranking to the class. Groups will return a ranked list along with one sentence of justification for each quotation. This activity reveals how Armitage manages to distribute and withhold certainty throughout the poem.
Context card sort 15 min · pairs
Pairs get eight context cards that include topics like the 2003 Iraq invasion, Armitage's BBC documentary The Not Dead, the criteria for PTSD diagnosis, the Nuremberg defence, the British public's opposition to the war, the colloquial northern English register, the dramatic monologue form, and the tradition of war poetry. They choose three cards that they believe best highlight the poem and write a sentence for each card that explains its connection to a specific moment in the text. The cards along with the sentences are returned as a single sheet.
Weak-to-strong paragraph upgrade 20 min · individual
Each student gets a printed 'weak' paragraph that quotes 'sort of inside out' and paraphrases it without any analysis. Students then rewrite the paragraph on their own, including: a named technique, an explanation of its effect, and one contextual sentence about The Not Dead. The revised paragraph is submitted. This activity serves as a scaffolded bridge between annotation and independent extended writing, allowing the teacher to assess both versions side by side to demonstrate progress.
Final couplet close reading carousel 25 min · groups
Four stations around the room each present an analytical question about the final couplet ('dug in behind enemy lines / in my head for as long as I live'): (1) What does the military metaphor reveal about the soldier's mindset? (2) How does 'for as long as I live' affect the poem's emotional tone? (3) Why does Armitage choose to conclude with an internal image rather than an external one? (4) How does this couplet change the interpretation of everything that precedes it? Groups spend five minutes at each station, recording their responses on a shared sheet. At the end, each group submits the completed four-question sheet.
Comparison planning frame 20 min · individual
Students get a planning frame that has three columns: 'Remains', 'Second poem' (specified by the teacher, such as Owen's 'Mental Cases' or Carol Ann Duffy's 'War Photographer'), and 'Comparison point'. They need to fill out three rows, each one identifying a common technique or theme, including a quotation from both poems, and a sentence that explains what the comparison shows. Once completed, this frame is returned and serves as the planning document for the final paragraph or essay.
Assessment
- Do-now sentence in Lesson 1 reveals whether students can identify speaker, situation, and a resonant moment before any teaching — used to pitch the teacher input.
- Annotated first stanza (Lesson 1 independent task) shows whether students can name a technique, embed a quotation, and move from identification to effect in three sentences.
- Sticky notes from tense-tracking activity show whether pairs can connect a grammatical feature (tense shift) to a psychological argument about the soldier's state.
- Exit ticket from Lesson 1 checks whether students can interpret the military metaphor 'dug in behind enemy lines' as a psychological rather than literal statement.
- Opening sentence written in Lesson 2 do-now reveals whether students can convert a question into a debatable claim before the teacher models paragraph structure.
- Exit ticket from Lesson 2 checks whether students can articulate how contextual knowledge (The Not Dead, PTSD) strengthened their analytical argument rather than merely decorating it.
Summative task
Write a full exam-style paragraph of approximately 150–200 words in response to this question: 'How does Armitage use language and structure to present guilt as inescapable in Remains?' Your paragraph must open with a clear, debatable claim; embed at least two quotations from different moments in the poem; name and analyse a specific technique for each quotation; and include at least one sentence that uses the context of The Not Dead or the Iraq War as evidence for your interpretive argument — not as background information.
Marking notes
Top-band responses present a clear, well-developed argument about guilt, moving beyond simply stating that "the soldier feels bad." They effectively use context, such as linking Armitage's incorporation of actual testimony to the poem's casual language as a strategy for authenticity. Mid-band responses accurately identify techniques but tend to explain their effects in vague terms, like saying "this makes the reader feel sad." Lower-band responses mainly paraphrase the poem's events and quote without proper integration. The main distinguishing factor for this poem is whether students recognize the tense shifts and the final couplet as intentional structural choices rather than just incidental details.
Standards covered
- Common Core 11 12
- RL.11-12.1 — Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
- RL.11-12.4 — Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyse the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone.
- RL.11-12.5 — Analyse how an author's choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text contribute to its overall structure and meaning.
- W.11-12.9 — Draw evidence from literary texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
- AP Literature
- Literary Argumentation (LAN-1) — Explain the function of specific words and phrases in a literary text and how they contribute to meaning.
- Figurative Language (FIG-1) — Identify and explain the function of a figure of speech and its contribution to the text's meaning.
- Character (CHR-1) — Explain the function of a narrator or speaker and how point of view shapes the reader's interpretation.
- Structure (STR-1) — Explain how the sequence or arrangement of parts of a text contributes to its overall meaning.
- AQA
- AO1 — Read, understand and respond to texts; maintain a critical style and develop an informed personal response; use textual references, including quotations, to support and illustrate interpretations.
- AO2 — Analyse the language, form and structure used by a writer to create meanings and effects, using relevant subject terminology where appropriate.
- AO3 — Show understanding of the relationships between texts and the contexts in which they were written and received.
- AO4 — Use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation.
- Edexcel
- AO1 — Articulate informed, personal and creative responses to literary texts, using associated concepts and terminology, and coherent, accurate written expression.
- AO2 — Analyse ways in which meanings are shaped in literary texts, with particular attention to form, structure and language.
- AO3 — Demonstrate understanding of the significance and influence of the contexts in which literary texts are written and received.
- Eduqas
- AO1 — Articulate informed, personal and creative responses to literary texts, using associated concepts and terminology and coherent, accurate written expression.
- AO2 — Analyse ways in which meanings are shaped in literary texts.
- AO3 — Demonstrate understanding of the significance and influence of the contexts in which literary texts are written and received.
- AO5 — Communicate clearly, effectively and imaginatively, selecting and adapting tone, style and register for different forms, purposes and audiences.
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