what literally happens in the poem?
a former soldier is haunted from firing and killing a potential looter during an Iraq patrol, leading to his memories that cause his suffering in his ordinary life
analysis the phrase: ‘on another occasion’
the casual phrase promotes violence to be normalised, through applying an ordinary sentence with the horror of death, proving the desensitisation of war
the soldier’s repeated uncertainty on whether the guy was armed + analysis
- ‘probably armed, possibly not’
- creates a sense of ambiguity, revealing understanding to the danger of the situation
quote on how the bullet ripped through soldier’s life + analysis
- ‘rips through his life’
- the use of onomatopea implies the destruction and impact the soldier has done on the man’s life
quote about guts being tossed back into bodies + analysis
- ‘tosses his guts back into his body’
- the inhumanity of the action portrays the dehumanisation of war, emphasising the soldier’s incapability to emotions
quote about blood and shadow + analysis
- ‘his blood-shadow’
- reveals the soldier’s poor mental state as he sees the trace of the man’s death as an unavoidable view, emphasising his guilt
quote about week and week + analysis
- ‘week after week’
- portrays the repetition of his life, mirroring the trauma that haunts him and his mental state
quote about him blinking and him bursting again + analysis
- ‘but I blink/and he bursts again’
- creates the unwanted, abrupt flashback that occurs to the soldier, revealing the trauma’s invasion of his memory
quote about the end of a story, expect not really + analysis
- ‘end of story, except not really’
- implies how life should carry on for the soldier, however his memory and mental state refuses to end the story, dragging it on through flashbacks and guilt
quote about bloody life and bloody hands + analysis
- ‘his bloody life in my bloody hands’
- the use of ‘bloody’ creates intensity, symbolising the responsibility he carries and the guilt of his actions
describe the impact of the last few stanzas having immense details of what happened on the poem?
it reveals the soldier’s obsessive mental state that constantly recalls the treacherous day, as a way to mirror PTSD’s repetitive cycle
OPTION 1: what could this poem pair with and why?
could pair with Kamikaze, as they both address personal mental fallout from war duties
OPTION 2: what could this poem pair with and why?
could pair with exposure as both use repetition to depict war’s psychological effects, differing in post-war isolation vs in-the-moment hardship
