War Photographer Flashcards
In his dark room he is finally alone with spools of suffering set out in ordered rows
The first line is in trochaic pentameter whereas the second is in iambic pentameter. This unsettled the reader.
“Finally” suggests that the photographer is pleased to be alone, as though he has been waiting for this moment.
The sibilance of “spools of suffering” imply that his actions are sinister as well as what he has captured, he is a public observer and not interfering.
The “ordered rows” allude to a graveyard.
“a priest preparing to intone a Mass. Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh. All flesh is grass.”
The half rhyme of the couplet unsettles the reader.
The consonants of “priest preparing” appears quite violent. This plosive alliteration suggests that the people have died violently.
The metaphor of intoning a mass is ironic as he is developing death in his pictures.
The listing of the cities “Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh” gradually spreads further away from home, starting in Ireland. The conflicts get bigger in scale too.
“a half-formed ghost. He remembers the cries of this man’s wife, how he sought approval”
The “half-formed ghost” is a metaphor for the photo film developing.
“He sought approval” suggests that the photographer is asking to photograph the execution.
The reader’s eyeballs prick with tears between the bath and pre-lunch beers
The internal rhyme is ironic as the situation is horrific rather than jolly as the internal rhyme would imply.
“Prick” suggests that there are not many tears and they do not fully form. The emotion is not there.
The emotion is washed out with the “bath and pre-lunch beers”.
From the aeroplane he stares impassively at where he earns his living and they do not care
The rhyming couplet is ironic as there is nothing complete about the photographer’s emotions.
The ending is ambiguous as we do not know wether he is leaving Britain or returning home.
The war photographer is emotionally numb as he stares “impassively”.
