War Photographer

• Who wrote War Photographer?

  Carol Ann Duffy
• Quote 1?

  "Spools of suffering set out in ordered rows."
• What does "spools of suffering set out in ordered rows" reveal?

  • "spools" - extent /magnitude of suffering he has witnessed
  • "spools of suffering"- metaphor - defines photos through pain and trauma -> photos are haunting him

  -> speakers own PTSD, although not a solider

  • "spools of suffering set" sibilance :
  • creates sinister atmosphere, emphasises his:

  +distress

  -> cannot detach

  OR

  • shows how he craves:

  +silence

  +peace

  after the

  +loud

  +chaos of war

  • "suffer" and "ordered"- juxtaposition from the chaos in the photographs

  -> desperately trying to gain:

  +control

  +order

  -physically/mentally -> his turmoil & disorder = distortion

  • enjambment -> reinforces distortion

  -> feelings in excess, pouring out onto page
• Quote 2?

  "The only light is red and softly glows, as though this were a church and he a priest preparing to intone a Mass."
• What does "The only light is red and softly glows, as though this were a church and he a priest preparing to intone a Mass." reveal?

  • "light" - symbolises hope, "softly"glows- little comfort/ hope he can find
  • "red"- connotations of:

  +violence

  +blood

  +death

  -> ordeal has followed him home.

  "priest preparing"- bilabial plosive alliteration- contrast against "softly+

  -externally, trying to create atmosphere of peace

  • parallel between photographer and "priest."

  -both exposed to death and suffering

  -> adds purity & righteousness to photographer

  -gives victims the burial (+dignity) they were denied due to brutality of war

  • "intone a mass"- religious imagery:

  -he looks to dark room for:

  +peace

  +guidance

  +hope

  in the way people look to God
• Quote 3?

  "Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh. All flesh is grass."
• What does "Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh. All flesh is grass." reveal?

  • rule of three

  -extent of unrest in the world

  -> all three cities were synonymous with conflict in time of writing.

  • plosive alliteration- violence and destruction happening across the world.
  • Ceasure between each city:

  -Duffy gives each city its own, individual sentence, creating a pause.

  -> photographer paying tribute to each of these places.

  • "all flesh is grass." - biblical allusion; life is:

  +transitory

  +fleeting

  -> reflects how frivolously we treat human life.

  -metaphor for dead bodies covering ground

  -> decomposition of their bodies on battlefield will cause molecules of their bodies to compose the 'grass' itself.
• Structure?

  • fixed structure

  -same stanza length-> permanently scarred by what he sees.

  -> order/ no change > signifies photographers inability to change anything

  • doesn't specify what war -> +universal

  -> highlights extent of suffering in the world
• What is the poet's message?

  • Western society increasingly desensitised to these images -> ignorance

  -> calling us to care