Poetry - War Photographer by Carol Ann Duffy

Question 1

Give context for ‘War Photographer’

Answer 1

• The poem was published in 1985, 10 years after the end of the Vietnam.
• The line “running children in a nightmare heat” is reference to a famous photo is a girl in a napalm attack. The photo had a big impact on the public who protested and campaigned against the war, contrasting today’s society in which war photography is largely ignored

Question 2

Describe the rigid form in ‘Poppies’

Answer 2

• There is six lines per stanza and a constant ABBCDD rhyme scheme. As this doesn’t change, it can interpreted that war photographers lack the power to change anything as his work falls upon an unreceptive audience

Question 3

Finish the quote:’ Spools of suffering…’ and describe it

Answer 3

• “Spools of suffering set in ordered rows”
• Metaphor
• Hints at the photographer’s efforts to make sense of and order something so horrific
• There is a contrast between what the photographer tries to do and the reality of conflict

Question 4

Finish the quote: ‘Running children…’ and describe it

Answer 4

• “Running children in a nightmare heat”
• Designed to make the reader understand the intensity of the suffering caused by war
• Reminds the reader of the innocent lives affected by war

Question 5

Finish the quote: ‘The reader’s eyeballs prick…’ and describe it

Answer 5

• “The reader’s eyeballs prick / with tears, between the bath and pre-lunch beers”
• Shows the comfort of this at home who aren’t directly affected by war
• This image contrast the images of pain that runs throughout the poem

Question 6

Finish the quote: ‘All flesh…’ and describe it

Answer 6

• “All flesh is grass”
• Metaphor
• Points out the scale of bloodshed and creates a gruesome image in the reader’s head