War Photographer

Question 1

Who wrote war photographer and when

Answer 1

Carol Ann Duffy in 1985

Question 2

Summary of war photographer

Answer 2

The poem follows the journey of a man who returns from a war-torn land to develop his photographs. The pictures remind him of his experiences and the atrocities which are happening abroad

Question 3

Context of war photographer

Answer 3

-it is supposed to question society’s way of looking at war photography as it is largely ignored
-She was especially intrigued by the peculiar challenge faced by these people whose job requires them to record terrible, horrific events without being able to directly help their subjects.

Question 4

Structure and form of war photographer

Answer 4

-written in third person despite it being emotionally fraught moment, this reflects the feelings of detachment with photographer experiences at the scene of conflict
-cyclical structure, creates sense of futile repetition
-structure mimics ‘ordered rows ‘ however irregular enjambement and caesura shows the chaos that lies beneath the surface

Question 5

Key quotes of war photographer

Answer 5

‘The readers eye balls prick with tears between the bath and pre lunch beers’
‘Spools of suffering set out in ordered rows’
‘As though this were a church and he a priest’
‘A half formed ghost’

Question 6

Analyse quote ‘as though this were a church and a priest’

Answer 6

-photographer is fulfilling a duty, an obligation to remember the dead (like Jesus is honoured in mass)
-somber mood, both priest and him exposed to death and suffering
-irony as war is against everything religion preaches

Question 7

Analyse quote ‘spools of suffering set out of in ordered rows’

Answer 7

-sibilance
-ordered rows could relate to graves or military formation
-trying to create a structure and organisation to restore order to the chaotic images contained within the film

Question 8

Analyse quote ‘the readers eyeballs prick with tears between the bath and pre lunch beers’

Answer 8

-eyeballs instead of eyes suggest the act of crying after seeing the photo is mechanical like a reflex
-they are not truly affected by the photos, they don’t have a genuine, non superficial emotional response
-the act of crying is squeezed in between the mundane, they can just carry on with there day
-we are no longer shocked by pictures sometimes they are entertaining

Question 9

Analyse quote ‘a half formed ghost’

Answer 9

-a memory which is no longer alive, black and white shadowy image
-alludes to fact he’s died
-metaphor
-he’s haunted by scenes of suffering he has witnessed