WAR PHOTOGRAPHER POETRY ANALYSIS

Question 1

In his dark room he is finally alone

Answer 1

• Dark room is literally the place where photos are developed. Also where he finds refuge and relief ( finally) has time to himself.
  -Dark has connotations of depression and something sinister but also suggests his mental state is haunting and he is struggling.

Question 2

Spools of suffering -

Answer 2

Image.
-Emphasizes the pain and anguish that people suffer in war.
-S repetition creates soft sound to emphasize the anguish and pain felt..

Question 3

Ordered rows

Answer 3

• Suggests that war is very messy and he cannot control that but he can control how he lays out the suffering photographs.
  -Suggests it allows him to create order amongst chaos.
  -Gives us personality as he contains his emotions. Also reminds us of mass war graves.

Question 4

The only light is red and softly glows

Answer 4

• red reminds us of a confession box where you confess sins just as he knows the world’s darkest sins.
  -Red reminds us of bloodshed.

Question 5

As though this were a church and he was a priest preparing to intone a Mass

Answer 5

• religious imagery is significant as it implies he takes the job seriously.
  -It’s like a church as it is dark inside.
  -Just as a priest intones a mass and gives a eulogy, by taking the war photographs he has power over how the victims are remembered.

Question 6

Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh. -

Answer 6

Minor sentences emphasize the fact that horrible acts of war can happen anywhere.
-Horrific slaughter has happened all over.
-Creating harsh sounds echoes gunshot sounds.

Question 7

All flesh is grass. -

Answer 7

-Idea that life is only temporary, just like grass will grow in a field and will soon be gone.
- A chilling end to the stanza.

Question 8

He has a job to do

Answer 8

• short sentence emphasises the fact he feels he holds a great amount of responsibility.
  -He cant process feelings and has to just egt job done.

Question 9

Solutions slop in trays -

Answer 9

Sibilance. Onomatopoeia.
- Ideas of trays emphasize the amount of horror he has photographed.
-Also the idea of the decisions that our politicians make for us has large impacts.

Question 10

Beneath his hands which did not tremble then though seem to now -

Answer 10

Significant as it gives us a sense that ‘Then’ he has good self control. Now the memory of war makes him tremble and upset.

Question 11

Home again to ordinary pain which simple weather can dispel

Answer 11

• Idea that people complain about small things like bad weather and we don’t have true troubles.
  -Ordinary pain contrasts spools of suffering.

Question 12

To fields which don’t explode beneath the feet of running children in a nightmare heat.

Answer 12

• Contrast rural England as England is peaceful whereas death in other places.
• Simple weather and nightmare heat. -Nightmare emphasises horror and intensity of fear.
  -Running children we think of kids playing but they are running for their life.

Question 13

Something is happening -

Answer 13

-short sentences are dramatic.
- Makes the reader focus on the event.
-Caesura creates tension

Question 14

A stranger’s features faintly start to twist before his eyes, a half-formed ghost. -

Answer 14

-Idea that memory is developed so he’s picturing what has happened as the photo develops.
-Twist has connotations of pain and suggests that it is not a pleasant memory.
- Half formed ghost suggests he is being haunted and scared by this memory. (image)

Question 15

He remembers the cries of this man’s wife -

Answer 15

cry has connotations of anguish and being upset.
-The fact he recalls this emphasises the war’s horrific effect.

Question 16

How he sought approval without words to do what someone must -

Answer 16

must emphasise the fact he believes it needs to happen, his job brings responsibility.

Question 17

How the blood stained into foreign dust -

Answer 17

stained has connotations of an unwanted mark and something you can’t get rid of.
-Suggests no matter how much time passes, the war shed makes permanent stains on the country.

Question 18

A hundred agonies in black and white

Answer 18

• (image) emphasises the amount of photographs.
  -Agonies emphasises the hurt and suffering.
  -Black and white dulls down the idea of how horrific it has been for people as we cannot deal with the goriness.

Question 19

From which his editor will pick out five or six for Sunday’s supplement -

Answer 19

-pick out suggests it is a casual thing to do. It suggests he doesn’t have a sense of responsibility which is unusual.
- ⅚ creates a dismissive tone as the number is so small compared to 100.
-The Sunday supplement is the extra feature and it’s not front page news so there is an even lesser chance of the public reading.
-It emphasises how little care the editor has for these photographs.

Question 20

The reader’s eyeballs prick with tears between the bath and pre-lunch beers -

Answer 20

prick suggests there is only feeling superficial emotion.
-Eyeballs suggest detachment as the tears are a physical reaction, making it superficial.
-Rhyme shows how little meaning their tears have.