War Photographer

• War photographer

  Written by Carol Ann Duffy in 1985
• Themes

  Effects of conflict

  Reality of conflict

  Memory

  Anger

  Guilt

  Individual experiences
• Context


  Appears in Carol Ann Duffy's collection 'standing female nude'.

  Duffy was inspired to write this poem by her friendship with a war photographer. She was especially intrigued by the peculiar challenge faced by these people whose job requires them to record terrible, horrific events without being able to directly help their subjects.
• In his dark room he is finally alone with spools of suffering set out in ordered rows'


  In the beginning Duffy changes theformfrom trochaic to iambic pentameter this is to make the reader feel unsettled. The use of symbolism of the 'dark room' to reflect his purpose; is he a dark person or is he capturing dark events. The dark room is also the place where photos would be developed. Secondly this idea of 'finally alone' suggests he is pleased to be alone, this could be because he is always surrounded by chaos or he doesn't have faith in the goodness of humanity so he prefers to isolate himself. The double meaning of 'spools' to literally show that negatives are being unravelled. However he goes on to continue talking about the 'spools of suffering', the use of sibilance is soft to reflect what he is doing, his job, is sinister. The photographs being in 'ordered rows' could be an allusion to a graveyard as he is essentially capturing peoples deaths. = This therefore presents a moral dilemma as he earns a living using other peoples suffering but he is also exposing the deaths to the western world.
• A priest preparing to intone a Mass. Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh. All flesh is grass.


  This is ahalf rhyming couplet. It also uses the iambic to trochaic pentameter to unsettle the reader. The consonance of the 'priest preparing' is seen as violent as plosive sounds are used to depict to us how these people died. As he develops these photographs, religious imagery is used ironically to compare him to god but he is actually looking at death/ pain. The 'Mass' could also be used for the reader to question if there is a god, as who would allow for mass catastrophic events to occur, 'Mass' could be referring to mass death. Duffy was a laxed catholic so she is entrenched with religious language. Duffy begins to list conflicts, which get bigger and bigger in affects. 'All flesh is grass' presents these deaths as a tragedy as it reduces humans to be like a vegetable and presents them as worthless. Although this does have connotations to a biblical message, Duffy has already dismissed this through the idea of 'Mass'. Lastly the abundance of full stops could be reflecting bullets as people die or the snapshot of the camera as the photographer takes photos.
• A half- formed ghost. He remembers the cries of this man's wife, how he sought approval'


  As the image develops in the solution, Duffy uses a metaphor to liken it to a 'half formed ghost', this is used to deliberately remind us the person being photographed is dead. We are then focusing on the mans wife, he puts the verb 'cries' at the end of the line to emphasise the pain she feels. This is then contrasts his feelings as he seeks approval to photograph the death, but we don't know if he recieves it, this is to further imply a moral dilema
• The reader's eyeballs prick/ with tears between the bath and pre-lunch beers'


  There is an internal rhyme here which is to make the line feel jolly, this is done ironically as the reader should feel shock and horror. He also uses 'prick' which suggests it is tiny and suggests how little this impacts then as they don't fully form. Although he wanted to transform how the reader saw the war they actually forget about it, they metaphorically wash it out through the bath and getting drunk. Shows the western world is aware but ignores the conflict and suffering. It also shows his pain and moral dilema has been for nothing as he is unable to change theses peoples minds.
• From the aeroplane he stares impassively at where he earns his living and how they do not care.'


  Duffy ends using a 'rhyming couplet' at the end ironically to round of the poem as it suggests a feeling of completeness but contrasts how the photographer feels. Also there is ambiguity about who 'they' are, as he could be staring at Britain and their reactions to the conflict or is he leaving the war torn place. Either way his stare is impassive to reflect that the war photographer has been destroyed by his job as he is unable to feel content coming home or at war where he is trying to spread the message about war. We also end with the irony of him earning his 'living' from other people dying and also circulates back to the idea of a moral dilemma. He also uses theiambic and trochaic pentameterto deliberately unsettle us.