War Photographer Flashcards
effect of “spools of suffering set out in rows”
The rolls of camera film have become a metaphor for the images of suffering that he has captured on them. The sense of order contrasts with the chaos of a war scene.
Alliteration emphasises the suffering. Rows have connotations of a graveyard
Religious imagery and its effect
“Though this were a church and he were a priest” describing his darkroom as a place of worship. He takes his job extremey seriously and he very professionl
Quotation that shows he has to be professional
“He has a job to do” can’t have any emotion
Quotation that has ambiguity
“A half formed ghost” - literal= the pictures forming, metaphorical - the images haunt him as the person he took a photo of was most likely dead
Interanl rhyme and its effect
“Tears between the bath and pre-lunch beers” - emphasizes that they look at the photos then get back to their normal life.
Oxymoron
“Ordinary pain which simple weather can dispel”
Pain, by definition, is something unexpected, a reaction to something unusual and unpleasant, never ordinary.
Allusion to the famous picture of Vietnamese child
“Fields which don’t explode beneath the feet / of running children in a nightmare heat”
In England, fields are part of a comfortable, rural life. These lines emphasise the terrible contrast between this life, and the ‘ nightmare’ life in a war zone (which might contain minefields).
The reader is reminded of the famous picture of a naked child Kim Phuc running from a napalm army during the Vietnam War.
Metaphor and ambiguity
“a hundred agonies in black-and-white”
In this metaphor the photographs have become physical manifestations of pain and suffering, as each one tells a story.
The pictures are literally monochrome. Alternatively there is no doubt or uncertainty about the agony in the pictures: the suffering is there to see ‘in black and white’.
Criticism of editor and society
“from which his editor will pick out five or six”
In contrast to the ‘hundreds’ of pictures of suffering available, the editor has only room for a few of them. The word ‘pick’ and the vagueness of ‘five or six’ perhaps suggest a criticism of the editor for being casual/off-hand when dealing with these pictures.
War photographer structure and effect
The poem is laid out in four regular six-line stanzas, with each stanza ending in a rhyming couplet. This structure is interesting since its very rigid order contrasts with the chaotic, disturbing images described in the poem.
This may have been done to reflect the idea that society doesn’t know the true struggles in war as everything is not as it seems on the surface
guilt
“Blood stained into foreign dust”
Quotation that show is too many have died
“All flesh is grass”
