War photographer Flashcards
Context
Like Tennyson and Ted Hughes, Duffy was the poet Laureate
Duffy was inspired to write this poem by her friendship with a war photographer. She was intrigued by the challenge faced by these people whose job requires them to record terrible, horrific events without being able to directly help their subjects
The location is ambiguous and therefore universal: (“Belfast. Beriut. Phen.”)
Form and Structure
Enjambment - reinforces the sense that the word is out of order and confused
Rhyme reinforces the idea that he is trying to bring order to a chaotic world - to create understanding
Contrasts: imagery of rural England and nightmare war zones
Third stanza: A specific image - and a memory - appears before him
Language
“All flesh is grass”: Biblical reference that means all human life is temporary - we all die eventually
“He has a job to do”: like a soldier, the photographer has a sense of duty
“running children in a nightmare heat”: emotive imagery with connotations to hell
“blood stained into foreign dust”: lasting impact of war - links to Remains and “blood shadow”
“he earns a living and they do not care”: “they” is ambiguous - it could refer to readers or the wider world
Content, Meaning and Purpose
Tells the story of war photographer developing photos at home in England: as a photo develops he begins to remember horrors of the war - painting a contrast to the safety of his dark room
He appears to be returning to a war zone at the end of the poem
Duffy conveys both the brutality of war and the indifference of those who might view the photos in newspapers and magazines: those who live in comfort and are unaffected by war
