War Photographer Flashcards
Carol Ann Duffy
Born in 1955
Was Poet Laureate till 2019
Sheds light on warfare (more about the person taking the photos of war has on them)
Form of poem?
3rd person, Focaliser, Anonymous man
Brief summary:
A war photographer contemplates his job whilst developing their photos. He realises that the public does not care about the issues that they are trying to shed light on.
Context:
Alludes to the picture taken of the girl running from a Napalm attack in the Vietnam war // this picture leads to protests to end the war.
What does the Cyclic structure represent?
Shows the futility (pointlessness) of the photographer’s attempt to make a change.
What are the 3 places (in conflict) that are named?
Belfast (Troubles in Ireland), Beirut (Siege of beirut / Lebanese civil war), Phnom Penh (Cambodian civil war)
“All flesh is grass”
Metaphor - link to Old Testament as it states that life is transitory (not permanent)
Grass - easy to cut /kill
Flesh - people / life
“…which did not tremble then though seem to now”
Seems that at the scene, he was calm but now he is agitated, perhaps because he will soon have to relive those memories and will recollect the conflict through the photos he is developing.
So consumed by his job - he didnt have time to think/reflect
Ironic as his “darkroom” appears to be his place of sanctuary , however he cannot find peace here, he is always carrying the guilt of his work w/ him.
“Rural England”
Caesura - temporarily moved by the picture, then forget it later
Major Contrast to war scenes
Rural - makes us think of inner cities - full of people and life
Structure of poem?
4 stanzas - 6 lines per stanza - ABBCDD rhyme scheme - very uniform and controlled
PERHAPS reflects the photographer’s job - trying to impose order on the chaos of war
“half-formed ghost”
Pocture developing - starts to fade into existence
“Half formed” - person in photo was injured - deformed from conflict
“Half” a memory?
“they do not care”
They - who is the they?
Public, wider world, us?
^ quickly move on and forget about conflicts
Expresses futility
“from which his editor will pick out five or six for Sunday’s supplement”
“Five or six” is contrasting to the “hundred agonies” previously mentioned which tells us how little the Western World see of those agonies compared to how many there actuslly are - expressed through the reslly small amount compared to total.
The word “or” tells us the editor doesn’t really care how many pictures are put in and/or if the message is getting through to people or not, he simply wants to do his job and fill the newspaper - brushing past the tragedies. - this puts a critical tone on the editor for showing a lack of sympathy for the suffering in the world.
The “sunday supplement” is the part of the paper which isn’t considered to be “real” or “valuable/important enough” news, its the supposed extra bits put in to fill out the newspaper. This creates a critical tone towards the western world as it higlights the fact thst we don’t care about the suffering as we dont consider it “real news” or shed enough light on it - we forget after a bit
