WAR PHOTOGRAPHER
Meaning
War photographer is developing his pictures in a darkroom
Remembers the context of each photograph and the huge suffering
He has a professional attitude to work, but his real emotions escape when he develops the photos
Poet
First female Poet Laureate
Strong Catholic
Form + structure
4 regular stanzas = reflect strict order of military, rigid order contrasts with chaos of war
Also, mimic ordered photographs
Follows an ABBCDD rhyme scheme = photographer’s futile attempt to establish order
Rhyming couplets = contrasting emotions (detached reader vs emotional soldier)
Reflect the photographer’s life, must suppress emotions in war but when he returns home he is distressed
Enjambment = inevitability of conflict within society, war will never stop
Caesura = photographer tries to compose himself and his own emotions
Focus shifts constantly to show different perspectives
Viewpoint
Omniscient third person perspective
Detached from photographer and soldiers
Tone
Critical tone
, Language
‘all flesh is grass’
Biblical reference
Human life is temporary
Shows scale of bloodshed and creates a gruesome image
‘spools of suffering’
Metaphor
Alliteration makes the suffering more permanent and memorable
Emotions locked into images
‘of children running in a nightmare heat’
Take our lives for granted
May be a reference to the ‘Napalm Girl’ photograph
‘a hundred agonies in black and white’
Intensity of suffering
‘hundred’ juxtaposed with ‘five or six’ editor will choose
Belittles pain of other soldiers
Questions the photographer’s work = takes himself to a dangerous conflict zone
‘with tears, between the bath and pre-lunch beers’
Fleeting second we feel upset, but this will pass
Internal rhyme trivialises the tears
Comfort of those at home contrasts with images of pain
‘blood stained on foreign dust’
Metaphor
Memory is unforgettable
War cannot be forgotten
Pain lasts
Themes
1) Conflict between warzone and ‘Rural England’ = people are out of touch about the truth of war
2) Showing the world what occurs in war zones is a sense of duty
3) Desensitisation of the masses to war images in the media
4) People at home only briefly respond emotionally
5) Questions the purpose of a war photographer in modern society
Meaning
War photographer is developing his pictures in a darkroom
Remembers the context of each photograph and the huge suffering
He has a professional attitude to work, but his real emotions escape when he develops the photos
Poet
First female Poet Laureate
Strong Catholic
Form + structure
4 regular stanzas = reflect strict order of military, rigid order contrasts with chaos of war
Also, mimic ordered photographs
Follows an ABBCDD rhyme scheme = photographer’s futile attempt to establish order
Rhyming couplets = contrasting emotions (detached reader vs emotional soldier)
Reflect the photographer’s life, must suppress emotions in war but when he returns home he is distressed
Enjambment = inevitability of conflict within society, war will never stop
Caesura = photographer tries to compose himself and his own emotions
Focus shifts constantly to show different perspectives
Viewpoint
Omniscient third person perspective
Detached from photographer and soldiers
Tone
Critical tone
, Language
‘all flesh is grass’
Biblical reference
Human life is temporary
Shows scale of bloodshed and creates a gruesome image
‘spools of suffering’
Metaphor
Alliteration makes the suffering more permanent and memorable
Emotions locked into images
‘of children running in a nightmare heat’
Take our lives for granted
May be a reference to the ‘Napalm Girl’ photograph
‘a hundred agonies in black and white’
Intensity of suffering
‘hundred’ juxtaposed with ‘five or six’ editor will choose
Belittles pain of other soldiers
Questions the photographer’s work = takes himself to a dangerous conflict zone
‘with tears, between the bath and pre-lunch beers’
Fleeting second we feel upset, but this will pass
Internal rhyme trivialises the tears
Comfort of those at home contrasts with images of pain
‘blood stained on foreign dust’
Metaphor
Memory is unforgettable
War cannot be forgotten
Pain lasts
Themes
1) Conflict between warzone and ‘Rural England’ = people are out of touch about the truth of war
2) Showing the world what occurs in war zones is a sense of duty
3) Desensitisation of the masses to war images in the media
4) People at home only briefly respond emotionally
5) Questions the purpose of a war photographer in modern society
