Explore how the poems “War Photographer” and “Poppies” explore themes
of conflict and memory (30)
Both works ‘War Photographer’ and ‘Poppies’ address the monotonous suffering of those engaging in
conflict, yet from a distant perspective: where Duffy encapsulates a moral dilemma for her
‘Photographer,’ Weir expounds upon the internal conflict of maternal love in WW1, for her son to be
restored by mere ‘Poppies.’
Both works place emphasis on setting, where Duffy commences in ‘his darkroom…alone’ - these
possessive pronouns indicate his ownership of these images, to the extent he can manipulate the
conflict - the singular ‘alone’ connotes a clandestine idea, where this ‘darkness’ conceals his
amorality. This light is ‘red…softly glows,’ potentially mimicking a church tabernacle lamp to signal
the presence of Christ; this work is can be interpreted as blasphemy, reinforced by alluding to ‘All
Flesh is Grass’ that draws parallel the glory of God to sinful men; ultimately, this extended metaphor
of ‘priest’ serves to conceal the photographer hubris and amorality. Whereas Weir commences with
‘three days before Armistice Sunday’ - biblically, God created the sun ‘three days’ before ‘Sunday,’
potentially metaphoric for the light her biological son emitted: otherwise, ‘Armistice Sunday’ is
culturally significant, and the enjambment combined with ‘poppies on individual war graves’ provides
imagery of this bucolic nature overwhelming these ‘graves’ - death is a metaphoric bridge to growth.
Similarly, Duffy employs this setting of ‘ordered rows’ providing imagery of lined up corpses,
corresponding to Weir’s gravestones, where this sibilant ‘spools of suffering’ almost hiss at the
desensitised governments and photographers.
Both works employ similar stylistic structures of 4 stanzas - where Duffy employs an ABBCDD rhyme
scheme serving to communicate this disorientation and array of morals, Weir installs a free-verse
structure and an absence of a conformed rhyme scheme in order to reinforce this rambling nature
subsequent to a loss of maternity. Both works place emphasis on caesura: Duffy’s poem scrutinises a
triad of conflicts, moreover the plosive ‘b…p’ sounds coalesce to create a callous tone. Duffy capitalises
on this caesura in areas of focus; ‘he has a job to do,’ highlights this monosyllabic, blunt structural
choices of equal stanza length perhaps to accentuate this repetitious profession and the victims of
conflict. Whereas Weir's poem almost follows a strict narrative, articulating the stages of grief &
concluding with a Damascene moment at the ‘top of the hill,’ posing as a realisation , perhaps like the
commandments of Mount Sinai - these inscriptions command how she conducts her life hereby
onwards. Weirs abundance of enjambment serves to elongate this passage of time, combined with
structurally significant past-tense language; ‘before…left…pinned’ to establish this intrinsic theme of
memory. Weirs employment of caesura possesses a tone of a speech, almost colloquial as she
manipulates the tempo of the lines, inputting semantic fields of conflict; ‘flattened…rolled…turned’
of conflict and memory (30)
Both works ‘War Photographer’ and ‘Poppies’ address the monotonous suffering of those engaging in
conflict, yet from a distant perspective: where Duffy encapsulates a moral dilemma for her
‘Photographer,’ Weir expounds upon the internal conflict of maternal love in WW1, for her son to be
restored by mere ‘Poppies.’
Both works place emphasis on setting, where Duffy commences in ‘his darkroom…alone’ - these
possessive pronouns indicate his ownership of these images, to the extent he can manipulate the
conflict - the singular ‘alone’ connotes a clandestine idea, where this ‘darkness’ conceals his
amorality. This light is ‘red…softly glows,’ potentially mimicking a church tabernacle lamp to signal
the presence of Christ; this work is can be interpreted as blasphemy, reinforced by alluding to ‘All
Flesh is Grass’ that draws parallel the glory of God to sinful men; ultimately, this extended metaphor
of ‘priest’ serves to conceal the photographer hubris and amorality. Whereas Weir commences with
‘three days before Armistice Sunday’ - biblically, God created the sun ‘three days’ before ‘Sunday,’
potentially metaphoric for the light her biological son emitted: otherwise, ‘Armistice Sunday’ is
culturally significant, and the enjambment combined with ‘poppies on individual war graves’ provides
imagery of this bucolic nature overwhelming these ‘graves’ - death is a metaphoric bridge to growth.
Similarly, Duffy employs this setting of ‘ordered rows’ providing imagery of lined up corpses,
corresponding to Weir’s gravestones, where this sibilant ‘spools of suffering’ almost hiss at the
desensitised governments and photographers.
Both works employ similar stylistic structures of 4 stanzas - where Duffy employs an ABBCDD rhyme
scheme serving to communicate this disorientation and array of morals, Weir installs a free-verse
structure and an absence of a conformed rhyme scheme in order to reinforce this rambling nature
subsequent to a loss of maternity. Both works place emphasis on caesura: Duffy’s poem scrutinises a
triad of conflicts, moreover the plosive ‘b…p’ sounds coalesce to create a callous tone. Duffy capitalises
on this caesura in areas of focus; ‘he has a job to do,’ highlights this monosyllabic, blunt structural
choices of equal stanza length perhaps to accentuate this repetitious profession and the victims of
conflict. Whereas Weir's poem almost follows a strict narrative, articulating the stages of grief &
concluding with a Damascene moment at the ‘top of the hill,’ posing as a realisation , perhaps like the
commandments of Mount Sinai - these inscriptions command how she conducts her life hereby
onwards. Weirs abundance of enjambment serves to elongate this passage of time, combined with
structurally significant past-tense language; ‘before…left…pinned’ to establish this intrinsic theme of
memory. Weirs employment of caesura possesses a tone of a speech, almost colloquial as she
manipulates the tempo of the lines, inputting semantic fields of conflict; ‘flattened…rolled…turned’
