War Photographer Flashcards
In his dark room he is finally alone
“he is finally alone” - The photographer requires re-spite (time out and calm) from the real world
with spools of suffering set out in ordered rows
The photographer is trying to control the chaos he has experanced
“with spools of suffering” - The images are symbols of suffering
The only light is red and softly glows,
“softly glows” - There is something comforting in this light. The softness contrasts with the harshness of bomb blasts and napalm fires
as though this were a church amd he
a priest preparing to intone a Mass.
The way that he controls the process of developing the photo is like a religious ritual, calming and familiar
Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh. All flesh is grass.
“Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh” - These are three of the war zones that he has worked in. The hard alliteration of the ‘B’ sound makes us think of the harshness of war
“All flesh is grass” - This is a quiet from the Bible (both the old and now testiments) and it means that life ends
He has a job to do. Solutions slop in trays
“He has a job to do” - He must do this. He has a pourpose
“Solutions slop” - The sibilance and onomatopeia recreate the sounds of the chemicals moving in the trays
beneath his hands, which did not tremble then
though seem to now. Rural england. Home again
to ordinary pain which simple weather can dispel,
“beneath his hands, which did not tremble then / though seem to now” - he has been affected by what he sees. He seems to be in shock
“Rural England” - This means rolling-green fields and peacful counting sides
“Home again / to ordinary pain which simple weather can dispel” - A sharp contrast is made between the saftey of the photographs home land and the locations he visits
to fields which don’t explode beneath the feet
of running children in a nightmare heat.
“to fields which don’t explode beneath the feet / or running children in a nightmare heat” - It reffers to the mine fields and napalm attacks which other countries suffer
“nightmare heat” - This reffers to the photo of the naked child running from a napalm attack because her skin is burning
Something is happening. A stranger’s featres
faintly start to twist before his eyes,
a half formed ghost. He remembers the cries
of this man’s wife, how he sought approval
“Something is happening” - The photographer still finds thes miraclous as the photos develops
“A stranger’s features / faintly start to twist before his eyes, / a half formed ghost” - ‘ghost’ suggests that the man in the picture is dead
- ‘half-formed’ could mean that the picture hasnt fully developed yet or that the dead body is not intact
“He remembers the cries / of this man’s wife” - These memories stay with the photographer, he cannot just forget
“he sought approval” - He does not speak the womans language but he wants permission from her before he photographs her dead husband
without words to do what someone must
“to do what someone must” - He believes it is vital that someone brings these atrocities to the public knollage
and how the blood stained into foreign dust.
“blood stained into foreign dust” - This is a perment mark, dirtied. Dust builds up layer on layer - this is never going away
A hundred agonies in black and white
The photos are symbols of suffering and the number of them shows the shear scale such happenings
from which his editor will pick out five or six
for Sunday’s supplement. The reader’s eyeballs prick
with tears betweek the bath and pre-lunch beers.
“from which his editor will pick out five or six / for Sunday’s supplement” - The scale of the problem is hidden with only a few being selected, and not even for the main part of the news paper
“The reader’s eyeballs prick / with tears between the bath and pre-lunch beers” - The internal rythm of ‘tears’ and ‘beers’ suggests how easily the public cast off their sorrow at the horrors of war and return to their safe routines
From the aeroplane he stares impassively at where
he earns his living and they do not care
“From the aeroplane he stares impassively at where / he earns his living” - He is returming home to England, a place he has come to fed little for, in contrast to the concern and care he has for those caught up in forrign atrocities
“impassively” - This mean incapable of feeling emotion
“and they do not care” - This is the cold, harsh truth at the end. He seems at a loss about what else he can do to change it
Structure
- The regular rhyme scheme suggests that the photographer wants to pat order into the chaos he sees in the war zones he visits. But the unrhymed lines suggest order is not possible
- Its in tbe oresent tense to show that we are with him but its a third person narrator (means ‘him’, ‘he’, ‘the photographer’) to show that although we are with him we are not involved
