War Photographer

Question 1

Who is it written by?

Answer 1

Carol Ann Duffy

Question 2

In his dark room he is finally alone

Answer 2

Finally, suggests he is constantly haunted by his experiences, this allows him escape.

Question 3

with spools of suffering set out in ordered rows.

Answer 3

Sibilance, emphasises the dark nature of the photos and their content.

Question 4

The only light is red and softly glows,

Answer 4

Connotations with blood and violence, the red light and glow can also symbolise a womblike safe place.

Question 5

a priest preparing to intone a Mass.

Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh. All flesh is grass.

Answer 5

• Juxtapose the idea of church with the warzones listed, this also emphasises scale of horror he has seen.
• Metaphor emphasises the scale of death and fragility of life, suggests that this life is as meaningless to people at home as mowing the lawn.
• The cesura helps to make things seem organised so the photographer can cope with it better.

Question 6

beneath his hands, which did not tremble then

Answer 6

Irony he had a steady hand taking the photos, in danger. But now at home in safety he trembles. Hints that he is suffering PTSD.

Question 7

to ordinary pain which simple weather can dispel,

Answer 7

Stereotyping the typical British highlight of weather, contrasting with the events in warzone. Juxtaposes the dull stability of home. A little bit of sunshine can brighten up our day.

Question 8

to fields which don’t explode beneath the feet

of running children in a nightmare heat.

Answer 8

• Couplet places emphasises on the vulnerability and danger.

- Natural fields should not explode, shows the effect war has on nature.

Question 9

Something is happening. A stranger’s features

Answer 9

• Double meaning the photo itself is taking form, however the subject themselves may have been in pain, twisting.
• This is a statement which suggests that he he is trying to distract himself from the emotion by focussing purely on the job, this could link to the poem remains.
• It could be a memory more than him just looking at the photo.

Question 10

a half-formed ghost. He remembers the cries

Answer 10

Metaphor shows the still faint origins of the photo but also implies that the subject may well now be dead.
The person won’t have spoken the same language but the pain was so evident that they didn’t need to.

Question 11

of this man’s wife, how he sought approval

Answer 11

• Personal Pronoun ‘he’ emphasises a namelessness, that he is one of many, but also a sense of detachment and guilt in the tone.
• This is more than a photo for him, it’s a memory.

Question 12

and how the blood stained into foreign dust.

Answer 12

• Adjective emphasis on the fact it is far away, can be read bitterly, as though why should the fact it is foreign make a difference.
• links to remains and how the blood shadow remains on the street an indelible mark.

Question 13

A hundred agonies in black and white

Answer 13

Pun dark humour, bitter. Black and white in the newspapers but also emphasis on the morality, war is black and white.

Question 14

with tears between the bath and pre-lunch beers.

Answer 14

Juxtaposes ‘tears’ with the very comfortable images of ‘bath’ and ‘pre lunch beers’. Can be read almost angrily, their tears are meaningless and this is a small pause in their life, not of worth to them.

Question 15

From the aeroplane he stares impassively at where

Answer 15

‘Impassive’ without emotion, he feels numb/helpless.Trying not to feel so he can prepare himself for what he’s about to see.

Question 16

he earns his living and they do not care.

Answer 16

Collective pronoun creates accusation like tone. Final lines emphasise his resentment.

Question 17

Talk about the context of the poem…

Answer 17

The poem is written about a war photographer who has returned home and is developing his photos. The process of developing old style film photos is rather unusual for many to understand today. Old style film is very sensitive to light, so it must be done in a dark room lit with red light. The photo itself is developed using chemicals which slowly bring out the photo, it is then hung to dry. All of this can create quite a sinister atmosphere, red light, surrounding by hanging photos and chemical smells.
The poem is also looking at the contrast between the war zones and safety of being back home and the way people just do not understand the truth, after all a single photo cannot show everything.
War photographers do a very dangerous job, many are killed and injured as they must get in harms way to get the photos they are after.

Question 18

How does the poem link to power and conflict?

Answer 18

The poem looks at conflict in the sense that he has taken photos of war and fighting. However there is also conflict between the warzone and ‘Rural England’, the poet is trying to emphasise how out of touch people are about the truth of war, as well as how it is more a business or bit of gossip rather than life changing and destructive.

Question 19

Talk about the poems structure…

Answer 19

Written in 4 stanzas the poem features rhyming couplets interspaced with non rhyming lines. The regular structure can represent the order he is giving to the chaos in his photos, perhaps also the almost mechanical process he is
going through and putting that distance between himself and the context.
The poem is written as a narrative, leading us through the act of the photographer processing his photos, this again helps create a sense of detachment or even cynicism about what this action reflects, that people suffer and lose lives and the end result to us is a few pictures chosen for the newspapers.

Question 20

What are the key points?

Answer 20

• The poem contrasts rural England with warzones to emphasise the gulf between the public and the warzones, thus emphasising their detachment and his.
• Bitterness and regret is conveyed in key rhyming couplets and sections to highlight his difficulty dealing with the experiences.
• The ordered structure reflects the precision of his job which contrasts strongly with the chaos of his experiences.

Question 21

Themes…

Answer 21

Effects of Conflict
Reality of conflict
Memory
Anger
Guilt
Individual Experience

Question 22

Key quotes…

Answer 22

"a job to do"
"a half-formed ghost"
"to do what someone must"
"tears...beers"
"they do not care"