war photographer Flashcards
‘a hundred agonies in black and white from which his editor will pick out five or six for sunday’s supplement’
hyperbole: ‘hundred’
↳ the word a ‘hundred’ almost seems like an exaggeration, however this many people and even more are suffering, this is to shock the reader and create sympathy, perhaps evoke action in the reader
focus on: ‘black and white’
↳ black and white is often used to show the truth, this further affirms the point that the photographer spreads the truth
↳ people says ‘it’s not black and white’ when they say everything isn’t
straightforward, but in this case it is black and white, these people’s suffering is clear
focus on: ‘five or six’
↳ only a few pieces are ‘worth-showing’, this completely undermines the victim’s trauma
focus on: supplement
↳ a supplement is like an added bonus - war’s in poorer countries are never treated as main news
‘the reader’s eyeballs prick with tears between the bath and pre lunch beers’
focus on: prick
↳ a prick causes small pain, the readers are only show slight emotion to the horrible situations (desensitised) they aren’t influenced into action or even disrupted from their daily routines
plosives & rhyme:
↳ plosives show that the photographer is passionate about his work, the rhyme almost create a sing songs tone, like the photographer is mocking the reader’s attention who have nonchalant attitudes towards suffering
synecdoche: ‘eyeballs’
↳ separates the act of crying from the person who is crying to emphasise how the readers them self feel only fleeting emotion over the photos they see, and once their eyeballs are moved away, they feel completely fine
‘he stares impassively at where he
earns his living and they do not care’
focus on: ‘impassively’
↳ the photographer himself is numb and hopeless, the readers don’t care
focus on: ‘living’
↳ he lives because of others death
↳ juxtaposition to the death of his subjects
‘they do not care’
↳ readers?
↳ photographer is critical of the reader’s indifference to suffering, writer is warning us not to be like them
‘as if this were a church and he a priest preparing to intone a mass’
biblical imagery: ‘church, priest, mass’
↳ a priest brings the truth (as in justice and mercy), the war photographer also brings truth and justice to the victims by telling their stories
↳ religion is controversial to many and so are the photographers photos
↳ jesus sacrificed his life to wash away the sins of the world/the photographer is sacrificing his life to reveal the truth of wars
‘home again to ordinary pain which simple weather can dispel’
-those in england don’t have true concerns, they complain about things but don’t have true worries, they complain about things which can easily be removed from their minds by things like good weather
oxymoron:
↳ pain should not be an ordinary thing, but this pain is so mild that it barely classifies as pain next to the suffering of those in war-torn areas
themes
memory, desensitisation, religion, horrors of war
structure
-thee 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
-his job requires precision but his subject is chaotic
2 pairs of rhyming couplet in each stanza VS internal rhymes throughout the poem: ‘something is happening’
↳ the couplets could show how the photographer wishes to return to a predictable life, however this is undermined by traumatic memories that pop up in his mind (‘tremble’)
context
-written during the iran-iraq war
-carol ann duffy had war photographer friends
who wrote war photographer?
carol ann duffy
