stanza 1

• • "In his darkroom he is finally alone"
  • Sense of isolation. Peaceful, tranquil and safe from the difficult part of his work. ‘finally’ suggests that he is not often alone.
  • The stillness of his darkroom provides a haven/sanctuary from the chaos of war and gives him a chance to reflect.
• • "spools of suffering"
  • Sibilance
  • used to continue the quietness of the darkroom, the soft ‘s’ contributing to a calm atmosphere. Spools are set out like priests set out equipment for Mass: an air of ritual about it.
  • The transferred epithet reveals the harrowing contents of the photographs.
• • "The only light is red and softly glows,"
  • Red ‘safe light’ (used to prevent black and white prints from fogging) is compared to red sanctuary light in Catholic Church (seen as sanctuaries from the trials of life.)
  • Not only does the red light protect the images he is developing but he finds solace/ comfort /sanctuary in his darkroom.
• • "as though this were a church and he a priest preparing to intone a Mass."
  • Just as a priest goes about his job by reverently laying out dishes containing bread and wine, so too does the photographer take his job very seriously and reverently.
  • Like a priest, he deals with awful situations and teaches people about the fragility of life.
• • "Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh."
  • Rhythm of short sentences echoes the chanting of prayers. Full stops rather than commas between them to fix them individually in our mind.
  • Plosive alliteration links places separated by distance, but suffer atrocity in the same way, reinforcing the violence and horrors of war.
• • "All flesh is grass."
  • Biblical allusion highlights how fragile life is. Just as grass has millions of blades and is cut down without any thought, this suggests how many people are randomly ‘cut down’ in war.
  • “flesh” represents dead soldiers, whilst “grass” represents the killing fields.