War Photographer Flashcards
Carol Ann Duffy
Ann Duffy is a Scottish poet who, in 2009, became the first woman to hold the post of Poet Laureate.
War Photographer’ was published in 1985 as part of Duffy’s collection, Standing Female Nude.
Form
The poem has four stanzas of equal length and a regular rhyme scheme — it is “set out in ordered rows” like the photographer’s spools, echoing the care that the photographer takes over his work. The use of enjambment reflects the gradual revealing of the photo as it develops.
Structure
The poem follows the actions and thoughts of the photographer in his darkroom.
There’s a distinct change at the start of the third stanza, when the photographer remembers a specific death. In the final stanza, the focus shifts to the way the photographer’s work is received.
Religious imagery
references to religion make it sound almost as if the photographer is a
priest conducting a funeral when he’s developing the photos — there’s a sense of ceremony to his actions.
Contrasts
poem presents “Rural England” as a contrast to the war zones the photographer
visits. The grieving widow is compared with people in England whose eyes only “prick / with tears” at the pain. Ironically, the photographer is detached in the war zones but deeply affected at home.
Emotive language
poem is full of powerful, emotive imagery which reflects the horrors
of war seen by the photographer and captured in his photos. Like the photographer, Duffy tries to represent the true horror of conflict in her work in order to make the reader think about the subject.
In his darkroom
The phrase tells us where he is, but “dark” also hints at the subject matter of his photographs
They do not care
Final sentence , this is ambiguous it could refer to the readers of the newspaper who don’t care about the victims of war, or it could refer to the weirder world whiz is apathetic about others suffering
