War Photographer

Question 1

“In his darkroom…”

Answer 1

“In his darkroom he is finally alone//with spools of suffering”

• Anastrophe indicates that he belongs to the darkroom, highlighting the significance of his profession.
• Could be a metaphor of his depression, as it is dark, suggesting that it overwhelms him, could also reflect how society is hiding and shying away from their problems by hiding away in darkrooms.
• Hypallage in spools of suffering to reflect the fact that the spools capture pain.
• Sibilance could reflect the anger felt by the writer
• Metaphor of grief and pain.

Question 2

“Belfast…”

Answer 2

Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh

• Holophrasis to fully exemplify the all of the locations around the world damage by war.
• Plosive B and P sides portray the anger by the speaker

Question 3

“Blood stained…”

Answer 3

Blood stained into foreign dust

• Biblical reference to “all are from dust and to dust we shall return”, Ecclesiastes 3:20.
• The blood will dry and the dust blow away. However, the memories of the blood will penetrate the conscious and sub-conscious being of the photographer. What he sees and experiences will ‘stain’ him; be with him till the end of his life.

Question 4

A hundred agonies

Answer 4

A hundred agonies in black and white

• Refers to the job but also to the human races of black an white, suggesting that this pain is universal and felt by all ethnic groups

Question 5

Who wrote War Photographer?

Answer 5

Carol Anne Duffy

Question 6

Comment on rhyme scheme in War Photographer

Answer 6

The rhyming couplets at the end give a concise, neat structure which suggests constraint and formality. It also suggests that war is inevitable and regular in the sense that it is bound to happen and always happening, serving as an implicit criticism from the speaker.

Question 7

Rhyme scheme in war photographer

Answer 7

ABBCDD

Question 8

Context for war photographer

Answer 8

• Poet Laureate
• War photographers fulfil a very dangerous job; they put their lives in danger to capture images of the severity of war.
  Many have been killed and injured but they see it as a necessary sacrifice in order to present information to an audience ‘at home’.
  The problem is that a picture does not always tell the full story and is becoming less and less powerful in desensitised Western Society.