War Photographer

Question 1

Overall summary

Answer 1

A war photographer is developing photos of war stricken locations around the world, he reflects on the morality of his job as he contemplates the apathy of the western world has become desensitised and indifferent to the suffering of war, she juxtaposed the overt agony ride within war zones with the impassivity of those in England.

Question 2

Stanza Summary

Answer 2

• A war photographer is in his darkroom preparing to develop film pictures of war zones around the world, the lighting would be dim and red to avoid damage to the photographs.
• The photographer begins to place the film in chemical solutions to develop it, there is an allusion to the famous “Napalm Girl” photograph to convey to the reader the importance of his work.
• The film begins to develop and faint images start appearing, the photographs begins to remember the tragedies he witnessed.
• Once developed, the photographer reflects on how the photographs will be received in England, they will be presented in newspapers but ultimately overlooked and ignored.

Question 3

Context

Answer 3

• War photographer was published in 1985, it references the Vietnam war which ended in 1975 so would still be in the living memory of Duffy’s readership.
• Line 12: “running children in a nightmare heat” is an allusion to Nick Ut’s Napalm Girl’s photograph. This was a photo of a nine year old girl (Kim Phuc) running naked towards the camera in agony during the Vietnam war, it received a lot of attention within the media and was published on the front page of the New York Times. Phuc was named a United Nations goodwill ambassadors in 1997 and gives speeches around the world.
• Duffy may have been critiquing how over time the impact pf war photography is depleting, emphasising that this single famous photography is not enough recognition of the suffering that endures all over the world.
• Duffy was the UK’s poet Laurette from 2009-2019, the first female to hold the title.
  -It is important to note that she was appointed to the role as she didn’t support and advocate for the traditional convention, she was not an establishment poet- much poetry was strongly feminist.
• She was also known to be friends with a war photographer which likely inspired this poem. As a poet and playwright, she had an affinity for those whose occupation was concerned with capturing and crystallising emotions, whilst a photographer does so with images, she does so with words.

Question 4

“Spools of suffering set out in ordered rows”

Answer 4

• The metaphor “spools of suffering set out in ordered rows” creates the imagery of war graves. It is paradoxical that the chaotic suffering of war is wielded into an ordered form; the pain of war is placed for the eyes of the Western World.
  -The sibilance of “spools of suffering” is a metaphor for the ways in which agonises of war were silenced as the ‘s’ sound is reminiscent of whispering.

Question 5

“a hundred agonies in black and white”

Answer 5

• The emotive metaphor “a hundred agonies in black and white” shows what these photographs represent for the photographer, they are crystallisation of excruciating pain and suffering.
• The sound “agonies” is used as a metonym for the photographs, we see the juxtaposition between how the photographer views them and how the Western world views them.
• The phrase “black and white” is comparatively less emotive and less graphic. It is also reminiscent of something historical and could perhaps be a criticisms of war and how was as humans are not learning from the past- sticking to old ways