War Photographer Flashcards
“In his dark room”
Word choice of darkroom here suggests that the room that the photographer is in takes him to a dark place mentally that he struggles to cope with. The word choice also acts to emphasise the dark and perhaps brooding environment and eludes to the ideas of anxiety, stress, and horror that being an eyewitness to the horrors of war has made this man
“finally alone”
This use of inversion conveys the speaker’s longing to escape as moving the word “finally” to the beginning of the phrase emphasises the speaker’s longing to escape the pain of this warzone. Suggests that the speaker has been seeking solitude and wants to escape away from the horrors of man that his line of work has forced him to bear witness to. The word choice of “alone” also emphasises the loneliness of the speakers job. He is far away from friends, family, and colleagues. However still he wishes to be left alone now that he has returned home and can have these things again. Reflecting how perhaps his job has changed him.
“spools of suffering set out in ordered rows”
Word choice of “ordered rows” emphasises the speaker’s meticulous care that he takes over his work. He is obsessive about ensuring that he is orderly and does each photograph justice as he realises the pain and suffering that are present in each one highlights the methodical nature with which the speaker treats his job as to do otherwise would be to emotionally overwhelming for him and so he must suppress his emotions by creating patterns and organise the pictures. This also creates an image that relates to the photographer’s line of work. As the ordered rows may depict the ranks of soldiers in a military, or even the rows of gravestones of those that have been killed in war zones that the photographer has been present in.
“The only light is red and softly glows”
Word choice of “only” repeats the ideas of the speaker’s solitude reflecting perhaps on how the speaker feels that he is the only one in his home country that realises that such horrific events are taking place. The burden of this knowledge drives him mad as other people remain blissfully unaware or uncaring about the atrocities that are happening.
Colour symbolism is also used the “red” might symbolise the danger, anger, and blood, that are all synonymous with the wars that are being fought where the speaker has been working.
This also begins the Religious imagery as it could suggest a Sanctuary lamp that reminds us of the presence of god and christ which “softly glow” which derives that the actions being committed in these areas are so deeply horrific that god is deeply displeased.
Word choice of “softly glows” creates a relaxed and gentill environment that contrasts with the warzones that the speaker has worked in.
“As though this were a church and he a priest / preparing to intone a mass”
The extended religious imagery here compares the speaker to a priest and his work of processing these images of war to the work of god. This emphasises the care and respect with which the photographer treats his work and conveys how important the speaker believes this work to be and just like a priest he seeks to spread ideas to all that are willing to listen to him. He wants to raise awareness of the suffering of others.
“Beirut. Belfast. Phnom Penh”
SIngle word sentences act to make these statements blunt and seem uncaring reflecting the blunt nature with which the speaker must treat the suffering present in his work. To succeed he believes that he must be indifferent to the suffering. Also making it sound like a list or role call emphasises the fact that these are merely examples from a much more extensive list.
“All flesh is grass”
This allusion to the bible, acts to emphasise the biblical contests referring to the eternal nature of god and the brief nature of human life and existence. This statement being used at the end of a list of warzones implies how life in these places is even more brief.
The rhyme of “mass / grass” could perhaps reference the massive amounts of graves present in war zones such as Phnom Penh.
“He has a job to do”
The use of a simple sentence here emphasises the blunt and matter of fact approach that the photographer takes towards his work. Also referring to both the literal job of processing the photographs and the figurative job or purpose that the speaker uses to justify his presence in these warzones which they believe to be ending war. We as a reader can notice how the speaker is attempting to justify his actions perhaps highlighting the inner conflict in the speaker about why he has done these things and witnessed these things. He needs a purpose for his actions to be justifiable and clings to the notion that this is simply a job that someone would need to do if not himself. Again mimicking how the speaker must distance himself emotionally from his line of work again conveying ideas of the speaker’s solitude and need thereof.
“Solutions slop in trays beneath his hands”
This shows the actions of the speaker to process the pictures as he dips them into a solution. However figuratively the word choice of “slop” could convey how the solutions to ending war also slop and fail. As peace talks quickly break down and fighting continues across the world. The sibilance here creates ideas of the solutions being messy, and the sloppy nature of them means that peace is merely temporary and fighting continues no matter what temporary agreement was made.
This creates a contrast between the messy nature of the speaker’s work and the places that he visits compared to the normality and peace in the speaker’s home country.
“Hands which did not tremble then though seem to now”
This contrast highlights the impact that the speaker’s work has had on him as before a part of his job was to have steady hands as he could not risk images being blurred when he was in these places. However once he has returned home he is no longer required to keep steady hands and the true emotional toll of his work is taking effect as the danger and liveliness of the war zones had distracted him from the traumatic events that he was witness to. The peace and quiet that he now finds himself in appears almost foreign to him now.
Enjambment of “though seem to now” acts to emphasise the effect of this contrast
“Ordinary pain which simple weather can dispel”
The oxymoron “ordinary pain” contrasts the plight of people in times of peace to that of in times of war. Pain is inherently unordinary and unpleasant however the speaker’s categorisation of pain highlights the pedanticity of complaints that we make about our day to day lives. All sympathy is lost on the speaker as he has witnessed true pain which war has brought upon people and their families and to him all of the complaints that he hears people from his home country make seem trivial to him. He notes how our mood can be determined by such simple things as weather. Emphasising how lucky we are to be away from these areas of war. This acts to amplify the reader’s sympathies for those that are suffering through this uniquely terrible kind of pain.
“Fields that don’t explode beneath the feet of children in a nightmare heat”
This contrast is again seen between the warzones and the speaker’s home as we do not expect explosions beneath the feet of children however this kind of this would be a possibility in these warzones. This acts to reflect how alienated we have become from the reality of the suffering of the victims of war.
“something is happening”
The ambiguity of the opening of the third stanza here is created by the word choice of “something” conveying how the speaker themselves is unsure about what is causing them to feel all of this anxiety and most of all guit in this moment rather than when they were carrying out the work. This may reflect on how as the speaker processes each individual image he is reminded of a different scene and the pain of different people, and a different traumatic event. He now has the time and peace to relive all of these experiences and can no longer keep his emotions at bay with the imminent dangers of being in a warzone.
“A strangers features slowly start to twist before his eyes”
The narrative here switches to third person which perhaps reflects how the speaker now worries what the outside world thinks of his work and begins to become nervous that all of his work will have been for nothing.
Word choice of “twist” conveys connotations of pain, anguish, horror and shock. These emotions may reflect a dying or injured man of which the picture is based. Or the guilt and anguish felt by the photographer for being present to witness this pain and his anguish at being unable to relieve the man of the pain.
“a half formed ghost”
This metaphor conveys how the man in the photo is now dead and has become a ghost. This reference to the supernatural and ghosts perhaps alludes to ideas that the speaker is being haunted by those that he has taken pictures of that are now dead. This plays on the key theme of the poem being the speaker’s guilt.
