War Photographer Flashcards
Dark
In his dark room he is finally alone
(The darkness conveys his loneliness and isolation, the emotive language will connect with the reader)
Spools
Spools of suffering set out in ordered rows
(The photo reels are set out like soldiers, paradox in chaos being reduced to being ordered)
Softly glows
The only light is red and softly glows
(Red light is a symbol of flesh, painting a picture of pain and suffering)
Job
He has a job to do
(As the second stanza starts with this, we get a serious feeling about his job)
Tremble (important)
His hands, which did not tremble then but seem to now
(The irony that in the commotion and chaos he was fine, but now that he sits down to think over it he is not worried linking to PTSD)
Nightmare (important)
Running children in a nightmare heat
(Nightmare heat signifies the use of napalm in the war in Vietnam, the children running symbolises innocence and human instinct to protect life)
Stranger
A strangers features faintly start to twist before his eyes
(The anonymous person he has nothing to do with is putting him through agonising pain through twist)
Ghost
Half-formed ghost
(Mutilated body, he is now a dead corpse or ‘ghost’)
Stained (important)
Blood stained into foreign dust
(Stained shows that the affects of war leave a lasting imprint on everyone involved, even someone who hardly played a part in it like a ‘war photographer,’ the adjective foreign shows that the war had nothing to do with him)
