War photographer

• The poem was published, ten years after the end of the Vietnam war


  1985
• A contemporary reader would be aware that the line "running children in a nightmare heat" is a reference to a famous photo of a girl in a napalm attack
• That photo did however, have a large impact on the public who protested and campaigned against the war
• War photography is largely ignored in society today


  In contrast to the impact of the famous photo during the Vietnam war
• The poem is written in the third person


  Despite it describing an emotionally fraught moment for the man
• The photographer


  • Experiences feelings of detachment at the scenes of conflict, which allow him to continue with his job
  • Sets himself off from the British public by the use of the accusatory pronoun "they"
  • Appears a solitary figure who is alienated from his fellow citizens
• Sinister tone


  Established from the outset by starting with the photographer "in his darkroom...finally alone" as well as the violent connotations of the colour imagery in "red and softly glows"
• The photographer is not safe from the horrors he has witnessed

  Even in the solace of his darkroom
• The solitude of the photographer


  • Implies that he feels he is alone in dealing with the emotions he is feeling
• Sibilant alliteration in "solutions slop in trays"

  Highlights the phrase's significance
• Literal meaning


  He is developing photos in a dark room
• Implicit meaning


  He is trying to offer solutions to the conflicts that he witnesses by raising public awareness of them, an awareness that might in turn lead to the public putting pressure on their government to help end them
• Painful connotations of "twist" in "a stranger's features... twist before his eyes"


  Shows the pain the images capture as well as the painful memories they induce in the photographer
• His role allows him to preserve the memory of those who have died


  Reflected in the paradoxical metaphor "half formed ghost"
• Lexis from the semantic field of violence

  Juxtaposed with religious imagery to suggest that people are not doing enough to prevent war
• The photographer is compared to "a priest preparing to impart mass"


  Reminds the listener of the Christian value of peace but is in opposition to the descriptions of violence also featured in the poem
• This implies that people are hypocritical because in theory they are against violence but are doing nothing to stop it when it is actually occurring
• The photographer


  • Struggling with reconciling his life in "rural England"
  • Only capable of viewing "rural England" through the comparative lens of conflict
  • Notices that roads "don't explode" and there is no "nightmare heat"
  • Feels relief at his distance from the "hundred agonies" of the conflict zones, but also feels alienated from and disgusted by the English people
• The photographer can only stare "impassively" at the country that is presumably his homeland
• His tone is angry ("they do not care")


  This emotion is further shown through the collective pronoun "they" which creates an accusatory tone which could invoke feelings of guilt in the reader