Carol Ann Duffy - War Photographer Flashcards
“In his dark room he is finally alone”
-Word choice = negative connotations
“spools of suffering set out in ordered rows”
- Alliteration/Metaphor = harsh s sound= anger at how much suffering war brings
- Order to chaos also creates image of graves = the consequences of war
“The only light is red and softly glows”
-Red = Anger, blood, death
“as though this was a church and he a priest preparing to intone a Mass”
- Simile = church a place where people listen and care about other people
- Priest: highlights important and respectful role
“Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh. All flesh is grass”
- Real Places = Real world , short sentences = impact
- Biblical reference life is short
“He has a job to do”
-He is not named as there are many war photographers
“Solutions slop in trays”
-alliteration = badly handled no solution to war
“Which did not tremble then though seem to now”
-Word choice = highlights emotional impact his job has on him
“Rural England. Home again to ordinary pain which simple weather can dispel”
- Contrast = safe and happy
- We don’t have real problems like war
“fields which don’t explode beneath the feet of running children in a nightmare heat”
- Horrific image = horror of war
- children = emotive image
- Nightmare, haunted by war
“Something is happening”
-Vague- War is everywhere but we remain detached
“A stranger’s features faintly start to twist before his eyes”
- Even strangers should matter to us but they sadly don’t
- Word choice of twist = pain
“a half formed ghost”
-Metaphor = he is dead now but the war photographer is haunted by memory
“He remembers the cries of this man’s wife , how he sought approval without words to do what someone must “
- Emotive image
- Difficult job, witnessing horror so he can tell us the truth about war
“how the blood stained into foreign dust”
- Constant death war never stops
- Word choice of foreign = lack of compassion: far away not here
“A hundred agonies in black and white”
- High number contrast to number of photos that are seen
- Word Choice = Photos, Death, Truth and lies, Right and wrong
“Sundays supplement”
-Hidden away, should be front page news but it is not
“The readers eyeballs prick with tears between the bath and pre lunch beers”
- Passing compassion, not deep or genuine
- War is not a priority, just a passing thought then back to routine
“From the aeroplane he stares impassively at where he earns his living and they do not care”
- Back to work. cyclical poem structure because war never ends
- Final line sums up the whole poem point of the poem, was written because people do not care what war is really like = horrific.
