War Photographer

Question 1

Meaning

Answer 1

Shows the brutality of war, and the uncaring nature of the public

Question 2

Structure

Answer 2

-regular rhyme and structure
-list
-short sentence
-caesura
-ends on a defeated not, slightly cyclical

Question 3

Regular rhyme and structure

Answer 3

-mirrors the unchanging attitude of the public and the ordered actions of the photographer
-however it contrasts the chaotic images created in the poem

Question 4

List

Answer 4

-list of places used to emphasise the scale of war

Question 5

Short sentence

Answer 5

-rural England
-suggests uncomplicated safety
-aided by the word rural

Question 6

Caesura

Answer 6

Breaks up the rhythm of the poem, reflecting the chaos of conflict

Question 7

Ending

Answer 7

The poem ends on a defeated note
The photographer is going back to the war he came from, it is like a cycle,
‘They do not care’ shows the futility of it

Question 8

Imagery

Answer 8

‘Darkroom’ ‘red’
‘Twist’
‘Half formed ghost’
‘Eyeballs’
-auditory imagery ‘cries’

Question 9

Darkroom, red

Answer 9

-creates a somber atmosphere
-atmosphere of death
-suggests that mentally he is also taken to a dark place during his work
-suggests he might see his job as cruel at times

Question 10

Twist

Answer 10

-creates images of pain,
-possibly he is crying as do his vision is distorting making them twist
-or maybe his head is ‘swimming’

Question 11

‘Half formed ghosts’

Answer 11

-when images form on photos they are see through at the start, so literally a ghost
-also that the man is possibly dead now and so literally a ghost
-is just that the photographer now views as those he sees in war zones as ghosts, as then it is easier to do his job

Question 12

Eyeballs

Answer 12

Creates an ugly image, the thought of eyeballs isn’t pleasant
-when you say eyes, people often thing of emotions, our eyes show emotions, but eyeballs do not, and so it suggests they are not really sad, they are just mechanically crying

Question 13

Language

Answer 13

Religious simile
Religious allusion
Sibilance
‘Slop’
Alliteration
-‘five or six’

Question 14

Religious simile

Answer 14

-parallel between the priest and him both are exposed to death and suffereing
-suggests a sombre mood ‘intone’
-suggest that like a priest spreads the word of god, what the photographer is ‘preaching’ is equally as important

Question 15

Religious allusion

Answer 15

‘All flesh is grass’
-quotes from the bible, often interpreted to mean that life is fleeting
-creates the image of bodies all over the ground

Question 16

Sibilance

Answer 16

-used to develop the harsh atmosphere

Question 17

‘Slop’

Answer 17

Suggests that it is messy just like the war

Question 18

Alliteration

Answer 18

‘Sunday supplement’
-suggests a frivolous nature to the section in the paper

Question 19

Five or six

Answer 19

‘A hundred agonies in black and white’ from which the editor will pick five or six
-five or six juxtaposes with a hundred agonies, the word ‘or’ suggets her doesn’t really care
-this portrays the western would as uncaring and naive