2.4.11 War Photographer Flashcards
Poet
Carol Ann Duffy
Theme Code
SLG-HD-FC
Themes
Conflict on Domestic Life, Individual Experience, Negative Emotion of Anger, Negative Emotion of Guilt, Reality of Conflict, Memory, Effects of Conflict
Quotes
- ‘Spools of suffering’
- ‘Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh.’
- ‘All flesh is grass.’
- ‘A half-formed ghost’
- ‘the blood stained into foreign dust.’
- ‘A hundred agonies in black-and-white… from which his editor will pick out five or six’
Main Structural Points
- 4 Stanzas of 6 Lines
- ABBCDD
- Caesura
- Internal Rhyme
- Cyclical Structure
Explain the quote ‘Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh.’
Plosives
Are being used (plosives are constants that are produced that stop airflow using the lips, teeth or palate, followed by the sudden release of air, the basic plosives are t, k and p (voiceless) and d, g and b (voiced)). The plosives have a quickfire pace resembling the gunfire of a warzone. It breaks the piece and results in a quick blast of the sound ba-ba-pa-pa resembling shots of a gun. There is also caesura, it breaks up the lines, and the full stops force us to stop and make us think about the three places mentioned, the poem is writing us not to stop and think about war, conflict and suffering. The caesura makes us stop and makes us think about it.
Explain the quote ‘All flesh is grass.’
Intertextual bible references
Intertextual reference to the bible is found in the book of Isaiah Chapter 14, Verse 6. What is talked about in Isaiah is the transitory fleeting nature of human life. It’s also the name of a Christina Rossetti poem, about the same topic about life coming and going in an instant. The references to the Book of Isiah and Christina Rossetti is highlighting the fragility of life. The fragility of life through the roessti poem and then the biblical scripture is something people have been writing about for thousands of years, yet still, somehow we ignore it like we ignore the war photographs in this poem. We might think about what is going on in the war images for a second but we don’t fully acknowledge the fragility of life, as presented by these intertextual references. It’s almost like it has been going on forever, but we still hide away from it.
Quotes for the Main Structural Point
- ‘. Rural England.’
- ‘with tears between the bath and pre-lunch beers’
- ‘The areoplane’
Simplified Main Structural Point
Tight structure reflects the War Photographer is trying to impose order on the chaos of war, a juxtaposition. The unchanging structure reflects the photographer’s job is futile, he wants us to realise the horrors but everything carries on as normal. The caesura suggests England is separated from the war and its reality. The internal rhyme quickens the pace mirroring the pace at which people forget about the horrors. The cyclical structure suggests their job is futile, nothing changes.
Main Structural Point
Duffy has chosen to strictly stick to consistency, writing the poem in 4 stanzas of 6 lines following the rhyme scheme of ABBCDD this tight and controlled structure could reflect the war photographer’s job and him trying to impose order on the chaos of war. Suffering in war can’t be controlled nor neatly ordered creating a juxtaposition, this contrast of a structured poem with the theme of the chaos and horrors of war, is constantly reminded to empathise that what we see and think about war is different to the reality of war. The unchanging structure also reflects the war photographer’s efforts are futile, he wants us to realise the horrors of war but nothing changes, everything carries on as normal represented by verse after verse, each being similar to one another, nothing changes.
She also uses caesura of ‘.Rural England.’ it’s between two full stops separating it from the description of the warzones, suggesting people are separated from the reality of the situation. Looking at images of war, is not the same, we are temporarily moved but then forget, and we can’t grasp the true horrors of war.
She also uses Internal Rhyme ‘with tears between the bath and pre-lunch beers’, the quickening of pace in the final verse reflects the speed at which people father the true horrors of war.
There’s also a cyclical structure with it starting with him coming back and being in his dark room and ending with him leaving on ‘the aeroplane’ to another warzone. This suggests there’s no escaping, and emphasises the futility of the war photographer’s job, he tries to make an impact, making people realise the true horrors of war but people will only end up looking at the image for a few seconds, feel sad for a bit and forget about it.
