war photographer

Question 1

“Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Phen”
“All flesh is grass”
“as though this were a chruch… to intone a Mass”

Answer 1

religion vs violence
“Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Phen” - biblical plosives, thematic/poetic links
“All flesh is grass” - biblical allusion, holy calling + death
“as though this were a chruch… to intone a Mass” - religious imagery, sacred importance/ceremony

Question 2

“something is happening”
“a half-formed ghost”
“a hundred agonies in black and white”

Answer 2

developing photograph
past trauma affects photographer
“something is happening” - short sentence, caesura, ambiguous
“a half-formed ghost” - metaphor, returning memory, incomplete memory due to deaths
“a hundred agonies in black and white” - metaphor, symbolism of memories, agony of memory, agony in photograph

Question 3

“his hands, which did not tremble then though seem to now”
“fields which don’t explode”
“tears between the bath and pre-lunch beers”

Answer 3

psychological damage + indifference of others
“his hands, which did not tremble then though seem to now” - imagery, delayed effects of PTSD
“fields which don’t explode” - symbolism, inescapable trauma of past
“tears between the bath and pre-lunch beers” - bathos emphasised by internal rhyme, juxtaposition, shows shallow reaction