War Photographer Flashcards
LA: Biblical allusion, life is temporary
“All flesh is grass”
Structure: 4x6
4 quatrains of 6 lines. 4x6 is a common photo size. The chaos held in the poem’s 4 stanzas of 6 lines reflects the chaos held in a 4x6 photo taken by the photographer.
LA: Plosive imagery + caesura
“Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh.”
Reflects sound of gun fire
Context: Kim Phúc
“running children in a nightmare heat”
References the photo of a 9 year old running naked on fire due to napalm bombs in Vietnam
LA: Frustration that the photos are almost discarded, and people do not care about the contents
“From which his editor will pick out five or six for Sunday’s supplement”
Sibilance
LA: People tend to forget about the contents and don’t pay enough attention
“The reader’s eyeballs prick with tears between the bath and pre-lunch beers”
LA: Emphasis on injuries
“Half-formed ghost”
Image is only half processed, reflecting how the person was injured and mutilated, or how it is even half a memory.
LA: Lasting impact of war
“Blood stained into foreign dust”
Connotations of “stained”
