War Photographer

• What is the poem about?

  A war photographer developing film in his darkroom
• What is the theme?

  isolation
• What is the contrast?

  home (safe, calm, affluent) / the war zone (chaos, suffering)
• "finally alone"


  The photographer is in a room all by himself. The word choice of "finally" tells us that he has longed to be by himself for some time. This immediately conveys the theme of isolation.
• "spools of suffering"


  "spools" are canisters containing rolls of film. The metaphor "spools of suffering" tells us that the photographs are of people who are in pain and distress. The alliteration draws further attention to the phrase.
• "ordered rows"


  The photographer seems to enjoy having everything very controlled and organised in his darkroom, in contrast to the chaos and confusion in the war zones. This is probably comforting to him and also creates contrast with the description of the war zones in later verses.
• "the only light is red and softly glows"


  "red" usually symbolises danger and warning. This is in contrast to the word "softly" which connotes gentleness and comfort. This suggests that he does care about the people in the images, or that his isolation in his darkroom is comforting when developing them.
• "as though this were a church and he a priest preparing to intone a Mass"


  This simile compares the job of a war photographer to the job of being a priest. They are both solitary, isolated jobs (priests cannot marry or have children) and both involve dealing with death and suffering (priests give the last rites). They are both jobs which are very difficult and not just anyone could do them.
• "Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh."


  These are all recent war zones, from which the photographer has presumably reported. The minor sentences and alliteration give them more impact. Putting the minor sentences next to each other creates an effect similar to listing, where it emphasises the amount of war zones he has been to and also suggests that they are possibly all starting to lose their individuality to him.
• "All flesh is grass"


  This is an allusion to the Bible, which essentially means "all life will end". This shows the photographer's detachment as the idea of death no longer seems shocking to him. Everyone dies eventually.
• "he has a job to do"


  This short sentence shows his matter of fact attitude to what he does. He tries to see it as a task, a profession, which suggests detachment from the experience again.
• "his hands, which did not tremble then though seem to now"


  His hands "did not tremble" I the war zone, which suggests he was not upset by the experiences - again, this suggests detachment. However they do "seem to now", which may suggest that he is able to suppress his emotions at the time in order to do his job, but they actually do affect him subconsciously.
• "rural England"


  "rural" means countryside, which suggests the areas which he lives is peaceful and affluent. It also suggests isolation, as there are far fewer people living close by. The minor sentence gives impact, to help reinforce the contrast between home and the war zone.
• "ordinary pain which simple weather can dispel"


  The word "ordinary" means normal and "simple" suggests easy to fix. They lessen the impact of the word "pain", suggesting that the only difficulties we experience are things like bad weather. They create contrast with the extreme conditions of the war zone
• "fields which don't explode beneath the feet of running children in nightmare heat"


  The contrast between the safe, ordered environment of home and the war zone is introduced here. "explode" connotes violence and danger, "nightmare" suggests the scene is so awful it seems unreal, "running" suggests panic and "children" reminds us that innocent people are being killed.
• "something is happening"


  The photo is developing gradually. The short sentence brings us back to the present and the safety of the darkroom. Short sentence to give the impact.
• "a stranger's features faintly start to twist before his eyes, a half formed ghost"


  The word "stranger" reminds us of the photographer's detachment - he did not get to know this man and connect with him. "Twist" is ambiguous, as the photo is not yet clearly developed but the word also suggests the man's face is contorted in agony. The metaphor of "half formed ghost" again reminds us that the photo is still faint, but also suggests that the man is now dead.
• "the cries of this man's wife"


  The word "cries" is onomatopoeia, which makes this poem more vivid. It also reminds us that not only those who are killed suffer, as those left behind are scarred emotionally too.
• "to do what someone must"


  The word "must" tells us that the photographer thinks his job is important. He can bring this suffering to the attention of the world.
• "the blood stained into foreign dust"


  The word "foreign" reminds us that people in the more developed parts of the world do not empathise fully with these images because they see them as happening far away. They cannot fully connect with what they see as it is so far removed from their way of life.
• "a hundred agonies in black and white, from which his editor will pick out five or six for Sunday's supplement"


  "agonies" suggests extreme suffering. "A hundred" tells us the scale upon which people are suffering. "Pick out" suggests a casual and detached attitude towards selecting photos by the editor. "supplement" tells us that these poems will not even make the main news. People are so used to seeing images like this that it is no longer considered shocking.
• "the reader's eyeballs prick with tears between the bath and pre lunch beers"


  "prick with tears" tells u they are only slightly affected by the photos and their sadness is soon forgotten as they get on with their usual routine.
• "impassively"


  Means a lack of emotion. He is completely detached from those around him
• "earns his living"


  Again, the photographer suggests that it is just a job to him - detachment
• "they do not care"


  This is ambiguous - who is the "they"? He does not fit into either the war zone (because he knows he can soon go home safely and his loved ones are safe) or home (because others cannot relate to what he has seen). He is isolated and cannot connect to either set of people.