War Photographer - Carol Ann Duffy✔️

Question 1

What perspective is the poem written in?

Answer 1

written in third person despite it describing an emotionally damaging moment for the man - the speaker sets himself apart from the British public by the use of the pronoun ‘they’.

Question 2

Structure and form in the poem?

Answer 2

Features a rigid form with 6 lines per stanza as well as a constant AABBCDD rhyme scheme - also features a cyclic structure

Question 3

Significance of the poems rigid structure?

Answer 3

Duffy uses a tight form of six lines per stanza as well as a constant ABBCDD rhyme scheme which contrasts with the chaos caused by conflict but perhaps reflects the order of ‘rural England’ - and the ordered way the photographer works as he places his photos into “ordered rows”

Question 4

Significance of the cyclic structure?

Answer 4

Poem ends by describing the photographer returning to the warzone - the cyclical structure creates a sense of futile repetition and continuation of past mistakes and shows how the photographers work has not changed anything

Question 5

Significance of the ending?

Answer 5

‘He earns his living and they do not care’ - in this way the poem ends in a defeated note -however the photographer continues to “do what someone must” and the religious simile in the first stanza suggests his work is as important as a priest’s

Question 6

How is language used to present rural England?

Answer 6

The photographer seems to be struggling with reconciling his life in ‘rural England’ he is only capable of viewing it through the comparative lens of conflict as he notices that roads “don’t explode” and there is no “nightmare heat” - contrasts to war and conflict.

Question 7

How is the photographers struggle supported by the simile?

Answer 7

The simile that compares him to “a priest preparing to impart a mass” as if like a priest connecting humanity to God, the photographer is duty-bound to connect people at home to those suffering in a war

Question 8

How does the writer feel about the people back in ‘rural England”?

Answer 8

Feels disgusted by them living far from conflict having “baths and pre-lunch beers” and unaffected by the horrors of war taking place abroad on ‘foreign dust’ - saying ‘they do not care’

Question 9

Significance of “a priest preparing to impart mass”?

Answer 9

Reminds the listener of the Christian value of peace - idea the public are the congregation who just listen do not actively take part in trying to stop this suffering and just leave once the mass is over for ‘pre lunch beers’

Question 10

How is the theme of suffering presented?

Answer 10

by describing the photographer as having to ‘pick out five or six’ photos Duffy shows how the public will only want to see a few photos before the reality of the situation is to horrifying to continue viewing - shows how people do not care about suffering that does not directly impact them seen with ‘foreign’ which creates a distinction between the two places

Question 11

How is the theme of the extensive scale of conflict presented?

Answer 11

Duffy uses syndetic listing in ‘Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh’ to refer to a wide range of conflicts - the plosives in this list create an aggressive sound highlighting the way in which war impacts so many people - meanwhile the caesura causes the speaker to pause over each word and consider it individually

Question 12

Significance of ‘as though this were a church and he was a priest preparing to intone a mass”?

Answer 12

The religious simile reveals that he is aware of the impact that his photos have on the public - there is also a parallel between the job of a priest and the job of a war photographer: both are exposed to death and suffering - the simile also suggests that his mood is sombre

Question 13

Significance of “all flesh is grass”?

Answer 13

A phrase from the Old testament, which is often interpreted as meaning that life is transitory (fleeting)

Question 14

Significance of “which did not tremble then though seem to now”?

Answer 14

It seems that at the scene of the conflict he was calm but now he is agitated, perhaps because he will soon relive the conflict through the photos he is developing

Question 15

Significance of “he remembers the cries”?

Answer 15

Auditory imagery is used here to develop the horrific image created

Question 16

Significance of “eyeballs prick with tears … they do not care”?

Answer 16

Why the readers are originally moved to tears they seem to be fine afterwards and are too focused on their own life’s having “baths and bears” to really “care” anymore

Question 17

Significance of “eyeballs”

Answer 17

The choice of the word “eyeballs” instead of eyes suggests the act of crying after seeing the photos is almost mechanical, a reflex it suggests they are not truly affected by the photos - it is only the physical process secreting tears that they go through

Question 18

Significance of “half-formed ghost”

Answer 18

The man is a “half-formed ghost” in that his image has not yet fully appeared on the photo paper - The phrase also alludes to the fact that he has died

Question 19

Significance of “his darkroom”?

Answer 19

The setting of the darkroom creates a foreboding atmosphere and the possessive pronoun “his” creates the idea the man is anonymous and therefore a unanimous experience amongst people who have seen war/ conflict zones

Question 20

Links between war photographer and remains?

Answer 20

Idea of the phycological impacts of war the photographers hands now “tremble” and he “remembers the cries” and in remains he remembers the “blood-shadow” on the street and this isn’t the end - “end of story, except not really”

Question 21

What methods are used to suggest the “messiness” of suffering?

Answer 21

“Solutions slop in trays /beneath his hands,” - the use of the enjambment here creates the idea the solution is “slopp[ing]” out of the container into the next verse

Question 22

What methods are used to suggest how the war photographer trys to cope with the suffering - idea of it being ordered?

Answer 22

“Spools of suffering set out in ordered rows” - exaggerated with the use of an alliteration which links to idea of his horrors being ladled and kept ordered - imagery of him being a priest masses are very repetitive with only the readings changing each day - rhyme scheme is same for each stanza (AABBCDD) and each stanza is the same length the use of the list “Belfast. Beirut. Phnom. Penh” creates a sense of order

Question 23

Significance of the final stanza?

Answer 23

Idea the public are desensitised to the horrors of war the photographer picks out 5 or 6 photos out of a collection of hundreds and they will only shed a tear - shows how they only care for a moment and will continue with their busy life’s - photographer knows this and separates himself from them with the pronoun “they do not care” he feels its his duty (“he has a job”)

Question 24

How do we get the sense its his duty?

Answer 24

He feels “he has a job to do” and that “someone must” do what he does and despite the effects it has on him “hands trembling” and the fact he has this constant “pain which simple weather can not dispel” he continues to do it even if “they do not care”

Question 25

significance of ‘they’?

Answer 25

the pronoun ‘they ‘creates an accusatory tone which could invoke feelings of guilt in the reader

Question 26

significance of ‘spools of suffering’?

Answer 26

use of sibilance in ‘spools of suffering’ creates the impression of the true nature of war being hushed and quietened so people can continue with their everyday lives