war photographer

Question 1

‘in his dark room he is finally alone with spools of suffering set out in ordered rows’

Answer 1

• ‘dark room’ - literally the place old film used to be developed. symbolically, shows how the war photographer is ‘dark’ and immoral- he must watch bad things but cannot help.
• ‘finally’- pleased to be alone after witnessing all the chaos which shows us how his job is mentally challenging and he’s almost relieved to be alone away from all the death and violence
• trochaic pentameter (first syllable stress). its swapped to iambic pentameter to immediately unsettle us which may reflect the unsettling and uncomfortable job of a war photographer
• noun ‘spools’- literally the ‘spools’ reference the old film in cameras which were used to save images. however, symbolically, it may show how the photos are reminders of the ‘suffering’ he has witnessed which he can’t forget- he may have flashbacks
• the sibilance may juxtapose the noise of war the noise of war to the silence of the ‘dark room’ - shows how unusual the life of a war photographer is
• ‘ordered’- may juxtapose the chaos of war reinforcing how difficult and unusual the life of a war photographer is. has connotations of a graveyard as the ‘spools’ are set out in ‘rows’- most people in the photos are dead so its almost like hes carrying out the funeral service they never had, rather than bodies he has ‘spools’

Question 2

what can be said about
‘ a priest preparing to intone a mass. belfast. beirut. phnom penh. all flesh is grass’

Answer 2

• plosive sound of ‘priest prepearing’ and the metaphor for it
• biblical reference
• ‘mass’ and ‘grass’
• semantic field of religion
• ‘belfast..penh’

Question 3

‘ a priest preparing to intone a mass. belfast. beirut. phnom penh. all flesh is grass’

Answer 3

• ‘priest preparing’ - plosive violent sound which links to how these people have died
  → metaphor- when he is developing the photographs he is Godly but in reality all hes doing is recording death. when a priest performs ‘mass’, the priest helps the soul to heaven but the photographer is not. this may convey how duffey believes God doesn’t exist. however is Duffey has suggested there is no God then treating ‘all flesh is grass’ is a tragedy
• biblical reference- we are born to die. metaphor means we are born to die therefore death isn’t a bad thing as one goes to heaven
• ‘mass’ and ‘grass’ - half rhyme is used to unsettle us
• ‘priest’ and ‘mass’ create semantic field of religion and they juxtapose the verbs such as ‘explode’ ‘tremble’ and ‘twist’- used to expose how the hypocrisy of those in the western world who claim they endorse christian values of peace but allow the suffering to happen
• ‘belfast.. penh’ shows the global scale if conflict- despite it happening worldwide, its still overlooked and ignored

Question 4

what can be said about ‘spools of suffering’

Answer 4

• what his films are filled with
• ‘spools’
• ‘suffering’
• sibilance

Question 5

‘spools of suffering’

Answer 5

• his films are filled with the pain of war
• ‘spools’ - metaphor for grief and pain which is captured. it isn’t the ‘spools’ that are suffering but the people depicted in them
• ‘suffering’ may refer to the suffering of christ- alludes to the idea of innocent men dying in war are reborn through the photographs
• the sibilance is a metaphor for the ways in which the agonies of war were silenced as the ‘s’ sound is reminiscent of whispering

Question 6

what can be said about
‘a half formed ghost. he remembers the cries of this mans wife, how he sought approval’

Answer 6

• semantic field of death
• what hes now thinking about
• ‘approval’
• dual meaning of imagery of ‘half formed ghost’
• ‘ghost’

Question 7

‘a half formed ghost. he remembers the cries of this mans wife, how he sought approval’

Answer 7

• photographs are developing
• semantic field of death- reminding us of the dead soldiers
• he is now thinking of the soldiers wife and her feelings
• ‘approval’- photographer is looking for approval from wife but of course he never gets it. presents what he is doing as intrusive. he is stealing something that doesn’t belong to him
• imagery of ‘half formed ghost’ has dual meaning. 1) depiction of a body ravaged by war. 2) allusion to a developing, but still faint image.
• ‘ghost’ ominous connotations. metaphor for how the suffering never becomes real for the western world, it remains faint, distant, and supernatural

Question 8

what can be said about
‘a hundred agonies in black and white’

Answer 8

• juxtaposition of ‘black and white’
• ‘black and white’ being less emotive

Question 9

‘a hundred agonies in black and white’

Answer 9

• ‘black and white’- juxtaposition may again reference his troubled life OR the ‘black and white’ images are symbols and reminders of how the ‘agonies’ he has seen. to him, they’re not pictures, but reminders.
  → juxtaposes the general public- when they see the ‘sunday supplement’ they simply see pictures not the full extent of the pain and agony of war
• ‘black and white’ - less emotive and graphic. its reminiscent of something historical and could perhaps be a criticism of war and how we as humans are not learning from the past and we are sticking to our old ways

Question 10

‘from the aeroplane he stares impassively at where he earns his living and they do not care’

Answer 10

• ambiguous- he may be staring impassively at the war before he leaves to go back to Britain. he is unable to feel pleasure at coming home, war destroyed with the fact that they ‘don’t care’ is ironic. he spends his whole life & destroys himself to try and change people except it never seems to work
• he earns a ‘living’ from them dying

Question 11

what does duffey use this poem to criticise?

Answer 11

how the western world has become desensitised and indifferent to the suffering of war

Question 12

2 points about form?

Answer 12

• 4 equal stanzas- poem is ‘set out in ordered rows’ much like the photographers spools of film- could be a metaphor to reinforce the way order and structure is artificially imposed over the chaos and disorder of war. alternatively, it could be duffy conveying that as a poet, she empathises with the role of a photographer, taking care of her presentation of her message.
• regular rhyme schemes- regular ABBCDD rhyme scheme to reinforce this imposed order over the chaotic suffering of the war.

Question 13

structure?

Answer 13

• cyclical structure- the photographer returns via an ‘areoplane’ to a war zone
• cyclical structure conveys the enduring cycle of war and agony that stands unchanged despite the photographers efforts to evoke sympathy from his audience also highlights the futility of the war photographers job (which is trying to make an impact and make people realise the true horrors of war) as people only feel a quick glimpse of sadness before they continue with their ordered and structured lives and how they’re forgetting about it
• image of an ‘areoplane’ is metaphorical within itself as it detaches the photographer from people of england- he is alienated in the sky and seemingly operates in a liminal realm where he is not within the war zone but cannot assimilate with the impassive people in the country of his origin
• internal conflict of a war photographer is a defeating vocation and it results in a relentless yet futile exposure to the suffering
• enjambment represents the gradual revealing of the image as the photograph develops