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Summary A Comparative Essay Between Poppies & Remains on Conflict Between Past and Present
This document is a sample essay for a possible question for comparing power and conflict poetry
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Abby TseCompare the way poets present a conflict between past and present in
“Poppies” and “Remains”
Both Poppies and Remains centre on the effects of war on both the people who left for war
(the men who were drafted) and the people they left behind (mothers, siblings, fathers).
There is an overwhelming sense of loss in both poems; in Poppies, the mother loses her son
to war and is forever tormented by his death while in Remains, the soldier has lost his peace
through causing the death of a looter. The past is presented as a care-free - almost casual -
atmosphere because in Poppies the mother “smoothed down your shirt’s upturned collar”
and the soldier in remains narrates the poem as if killing is a regular, acceptable occurrence
(“On another occasion…”). The present, however, evokes a sombre mood as the mother in
Poppies learns of her son’s death, time stops and she can’t let him go no matter how hard
she tries (“hoping to hear your playground voice catching on the wind”) and in Remains, the
soldiers tries drinking and doing drugs, but nothing will take the image of the looter’s body
out of his head. Both Wier and Armitage wanted to use their poetry and examine the effects
of war on people, as well as commemorate not only those who had died fighting, but also
those who were left broken internally after the horrors of war.
In both poems, the poets use narrative voice to create a story-like mood in the poem and
make the poem more relatable and personal. In poppies, when the mother says “I pinned
one onto your lapel…”, this action has connotations of sending a child off to school, which
evokes proud and happy emotions in the reader. This reflects the way the mother felt when
her son was still with her at home – happy, care-free, and relaxed. The use of pronouns “I”
and “you” make the story seem less distant, as many modern readers regard Armistice
Sunday as a day of remembrance but bear no real connection to it. The proximity of the
pronouns (in addition with the past-tense “pinned”) also shows how close the mother and
son were, and therefore exacerbate the pain they must’ve felt when they were separated.
This is a feeling familiar to many who took part in the Iraq/Afghan wars as well as veterans
from other wars, which makes the entire poem more relatable. The ”one” that being
referred to here is a poppy, which is a symbol of hope for a peaceful future, which is ironic
because even as the mother pins a poppy onto the boy, she’s also sending him off to a place
where hope and peace is scarce. This leads the reader to assume that to achieve the peace
that the poppy symbolises, there must be sacrifice. Likewise, in Remains, Armitage uses
narrative voice. However, the effect it has on the reader is very different to Wier; unlike
Poppies, which uses narration to enhance a feeling of closeness, Remains is narrated in a
way to show how distant the soldiers are from those that they are killing – how they
wouldn’t even blink if someone was killed. The quote “Well myself and somebody else and
somebody else” uses extremely vague nouns which not only dehumanise the looter they
killed, but also show how careless the soldier was when approaching what most people
would consider a serious situation. Armitage uses repetition of “I see” in the lines “I see
every round” and “I see broad daylight” to use simple language make story sound more
childish, which reflects what the soldier felt about the situation: that is was no big deal. In
contrast, from lines 3-6 in Poppies, Wier uses long, descriptive sentences that suggest that
the mother is trying to extend this final moment she has with her son, which emphasises
how much she treasures this moment. Overall, both suggest that the past had been sweet
and innocent (Poppies) and care-free (Remains) but in the present, the aftermath of war
comes to full effect, forever tainting the lives of both the mother and soldier.
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