War Photographer

• what did he capture

  horrifying/harrowing human images.
• War Photographer (title)

  focus of the poem

  a universal concept.
• In his darkroom he is finally alone

  his - familiarity

  darkroom - sinister connotations

  adverb - relief/longing for solitude

  abstract noun - calm
• with spools of suffering set out in ordered rows

  sibilance: sinister/emotional detachment from the suffering.

  ordered rows: imagery of ordered soldiers juxtaposes the chaos of war
• The only light is red and softly glows,

  colour symbolism: red connotes warning, blood, danger

  he is processing photos
• as though this were a church and he a priest preparing to intone a Mass.

  religious references - his work is sacred, he has reverence/respect for his job

  priest - spreads news, similar to how he communicates ideas of war.
• Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh, All flesh is grass.

  plosive - harshness of war/gunshots

  caesura - list of countries that are synonymous with conflict. pause + separation

  Metaphor + Biblical allusion: flesh is normalised like grass. the transience of life, death impacts everyone

  
  

  grass - connotes territory + land + an image of loss
• He has a job to do. Solutions slop in trays beneath his hands, which did not tremble then

  he was almost desensitised to death enjambment - tension

  first short phrase (emotionless simple sentence) + caesura - he has duty/responsibility - harsh reality

  did not tremble - negative verb contrasts the sibilance and clumsy verb 'slop', the clumsiness/messines/chaos contrasts the steadiness of his hands in the past.
• though seem to now. Rural England. Home again to ordinary pain which simple weather can dispel

  seem to now, temporal reference - he now sees how horrific it is

  caesura - separation (physically/emotionally)

  rural england - peaceful/calm
• Home again to ordinary pain which simple weather can dispel

  ordinary pain - relative to what he has witnessed/captured, he sees simplistic suffering
• to fields which don't explode beneath the feet of running children in a nightmare heat.

  emotive language - a tone of reflection, highlights the different experiences. harrowing imagery of danger/fear and atrocity

  children - symbolise innocence and need to be protected but were not. emphasises the vulnerability of the youth
• Something is happening. A stranger's features faintly start to twist before his eyes,

  ambiguous language, caesura - tension, uncertainty as the picture develops.

  twist - haunted/supernatural
• a half-formed ghost.

  Metaphor - Image is faint as it is developing so has a ghost shape. a ghost haunts his memories.
• He remembers the cries of this man's wife, how he sought approval

  sensory imagery

  this man's wife - more humanised compared to a ghost.

  
  

  cries - auditory imagery which brings him back to the moment.

  
  

  wife - a refugee or at home, her innocence is emphasises

  
  

  approval connotes that he is ethical and respectful, the wife agrees that the rest of the world/people need to see this.
• without words to do what someone must

  no communication - separation from the individuals who are suffering

  modal verb - a necessary role in society but still an invasion of privacy
• and how the blood stained into foreign dust.

  foreign - very separated, feels a world apart

  the impacts of loss. very emotionless description. (direct/real)
• anonymity

  he captures and has access to many people's death's.
• A hundred agonies in black and white

  numerical value/colour imagery - the condensed version that the public sees in the news.

  black and white - idiom for only seeing/choosing one side, indicating that the news may choose one narrative to portray which deviates from the truth. denying the full explanation
• from which his editor will pick out five or six

  casual plosive verb shows the limited reaction of the editor and his carelessness. the numerical values used again contrasting with a 'hundred' shows how much is hidden away.
• for Sunday's supplement. The reader's eyeballs prick with tears

  prick - like pick a limited reaction

  
  

  secondary: not a priority for the news.

  impactful caesura - the harsh reality of the situation, the public don't get the full coverage and therefore do not understand the truth due to the concealing actions and role of the media.

  enjambment - how easily they move on.
• between the bath and pre-lunch beers.

  plosives - harshness

  indicating a short period of time.

  a very uncomplicated lifestyle: it is not long until they forget.
• From the aeroplane he stares impassively at where he earns his living and they do not care.

  adverb - no emotion, not doing anything, defeated tone, lost in thought/reflection, he feels uneasy after witnessing the suffering and he knows the public will not care.

  
  

  last line - 3rd p: they = public - he feels his work is not respected in the way it should be, which frustrates him.
• caesura

  physical separation between countries/areas. emotional separation in terms of desensitising yourself and the levels of suffering in different countries.
• enjambment

  the public's ability and tendency to move on and not give proper respect to his work.
• cyclical structure

  repetitive nature of his job and helplessness as people won't change
• structure

  4 stanzas - 6 lines

  2 lines of rhyming couplets

  ABBCDD

  orderness of soldiers

  control that he needs to have as he works.
• themes


  traumatic memories

  horrors of war

  indifference

  suffering

  apathy

  violence

  guilt

  conflict
• comparing to cruelty of the world

  a prayer before birth
• comparing to relentlesness cruelty

  the Tyger
• a complete contrast


  Blessing