War Photography Flashcards
Who wrote war photography
Carol Ann Duffy
Context of the poem -war photography
Alludes to picture taken of girl running from napalm in Vietnam. The picture leads to protests to end war
What happens in the poem -war photography
Man alone in a darkroom. Areas experiencing conflict are listed. He is developing photos. Man comes back to England and is relieved. Photographer sees photos and remembers suffering. Realises reader only affect the suffering momentarily. Goes back to his job
Langauge used stanza 1 -war photography
‘Spools of suffering set out in ordered rows’ tension between messyness of order (chaotic effects of war)
‘This were a church and he a priest preparing to intone a mass’. Suffering is non-senseical both jobs try to make sense of it (simile)
Mass is predictable and has the same structure. Chruch symbolism of reverence thinks hes doing good by repeating same cycle. Contrast idyllic setting.
‘Belfast.Beirut,Phnom Penh. Mentions The Troubles, the Siege of Beirut and Cambodian Civil War
‘All flesh is grass’ Isiah 40:6-8 life is transitory (fleeting)
Language stanza 2 -war photography
‘He has a job to do’ he has to get on with it
‘Solution slop’ sibilance to develop harsh atmosphere
‘his hands, which did not tremble then though seem to now’ long term effects of war (remains)
‘fields which don’t explode beneath the feet of running children in nightmare heat’ .’Rural England’ contrasted by the wartorn setting that is both emotional and physical
Language stanza 3 -war photography
‘Strangers features faintly start to twist before his eyes’-process of phto development but also gestures towards his dying agonies- verb ‘twist’ makes it sound like the suffering cant be reversed
‘He remembers the cries’-auditory imagery used here to develop the horrific image created
‘He sought approval’-camera is intrusive however it is important to document conflict
‘Half formed ghost’-referncing death of the innocent. Inescapeable memories of suffering of war (metaphor)
‘Blood stained to foreign dust’. Dust seen as insignificant the deaths of war victims are seen as not important
Langauge stanza 4 -war photography
‘Hundred agonies in black and white … pick out five or six’-shows the extent of suffering however people only view a select few for their entertainment.
‘Sunday’s supplement’-alliteration emphasises readers ‘frivolous nature’ reinforced by ‘bears’ and ‘tears’
‘Eyeballs’ crying after viewing photos shows how crying is a reflex. This also shows the ugliness of the readers disingenuous response.
‘They do not care’readers are seen to becrying however ‘do not care’ emphasises momentary sorrow
Form of the poem -war photography
Third person ‘they’
Six lines per stanza (4)
Constant ABBCDD rhyme scheme
Stucture used in the poem -war photography
Cylical structure creates a sense of futile repetition and continuation of past mistakes act as evidence the photgraphers work has not changed anything. ‘Rural England. Home again’-From the aeroplane’ (on his next job)
Half rhymes between ‘the tears’ and ‘between the bath and pre-lunch beers’. This creates an unsatisfying sound which shows the horrific speed which people return to their lives
Differences with COTLB and War Photographer
Tennyson glorifies war through the grand religious imagery in “Into the valley of death”. Contrastingly, in War Photographer, the harsh reality of war is shown in the description of “running children in a nightmare heat” and “blood stained into foreign dust”.
Similarities with COTLB and war photographer
Both poems present characters who feel a sense of duty to other people. In Charge of the light brigade, Tennyson shows that the soldiers feel a sense of duty to their leaders which is shown in the reported speech “Forward, the Light Brigade!”
Duffy shows that the photographer feels a sense of duty towards the victims of war he documents.
