"War Photographer" quotes Flashcards
“with spools of suffering set out in ordered rows.”
Metaphor: Just as a spool contains pictures of war victims and is continuous so too do the developing photos capture the ongoing distress and pain as result of war
Alliteration: “S” sounds establishes a negative mood, chaos of images
Symbolism: “ordered rows” compares the layout of photos to the orderly fashion of war graves, attempt to restore order.
“The only light is red and softly glows,/
as though this were a church and he/
a priest preparing to intone a Mass.”
Religious Imagery: Red light is used in dark rooms but could symbolise tabernacle lamps churches or the blood of Christ. Just as his dark room is a place of reflection and peace so too is a church a sanctuary and a safe space.
“Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh. All flesh is grass.”
Single Word Sentences: list of well known war zones where he has photographed. Full stops mimic the images appearing fully formed in the final part of the printing process.
Religious Imagery: From the New Testament and describes how soldiers corpses often decompose into the foreign land, emphaises the fragility of life
“He has a job to do. Solutions slop in trays/
beneath his hands, which did not tremble then/
though seem to now.”
Short Sentence: emphasises abrupt return to reality and breaks reverie and calm of dark room
Alliteration & onomatopoeia: sound of the chemicals used to develop photos as well as the idea that the images depicted in the photos can be literal solutions to ending unnecessary human conflict, hope.
W/C: “tremble” conveys his anxiety, Just like in the dark room he processes the images so too does he process the horrors he has seen.
“to fields which don’t explode beneath the feet/
of running children in a nightmare heat.”
Imagery:
“Something is happening. A stranger’s features
faintly start to twist before his eyes,
a half-formed ghost.”
not finished
“He remembers the cries/
of this man’s wife, how he sought approval/
without words to do what someone must”
not finished
“and how the blood stained into foreign dust.”
not finished
“A hundred agonies in black and white/
from which his editor will pick out five or six/
for Sunday’s supplement.”
not finished
“The reader’s eyeballs prick/
with tears between the bath and pre-lunch beers.”
not finished
“From the aeroplane he stares impassively at where/
he earns his living and they do not care.”
not finished
