3rd April 2015
GCSE English: 'War Photographer' Analysis
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Poet and context
Duffy had known war photographer Don McCullin, upon whom this poem may have been based. Many iconic war photographs came out of conflicts of the seventies onwards, in particular the Vietnam War.
Content
Takes us through the process of a war photographer developing images he has brought back for a war zone. Alongside the actions we learn his thoughts, memories and feelings about the job he does and its implications in the wider world.
Mood/tone
Sombre, reflective, implied criticism of the callousness of people (from editor to consumer of these photos) through sarcasm.
Themes
Memory, trauma, conscience, responsibility, voyeurism, desensitization, horror of war, two worlds.
Form & Structure
Stanzas structure the poem, each having 6 lines and a rhyme scheme. Suggestive, perhaps, of the “ordered rows” of his photos – imposing order on chaos? The poem moves through the process from beginning to develop the images to their availability for readers of the “Sunday’s supplement”.
Language
Opening adverb “finally” sets a tone of relief. After the presumed chaos of his work, he is in a tranquil place (“ordered rows”) with much religious lexis (“church”, “priest”, “Mass”) both reinforcing this feeling of peace and reminding us of the moral dimension.
Juxtaposition of “spools of suffering” with the “ordered rows” , highlighted by the sibilance.
List of place names emphasises the universal nature of these events, followed by...
Religious allusion to Isiah “All flesh is grass” a stark reminder of inevitable death.
Simple declarative sentence opens 2nd stanza which is full of details of his trade, implying an excuse for what he is doing. “Solutions” however, may offer an ambiguity - chemical or human?
Juxtaposition is powerful in this stanza, between the safe comfort of home “Rural England...simple weather” and the horrors of life in other places: “nightmare heat”.
The 3rd stanza personalises the dilemma, using “a stranger....this man’s wife” and the photographer’s unease is becoming clearer ( lexis like “approval...do what someone must”)
The final stanza takes the situation out of the photographer’s hands and the focus switches to “his editor” “the reader”. Ambiguity this time of “black and white” – photographic terminology and has moral connotations.
Internal rhyme of “tears” and “beers” highlights the attitudes of people who look a t but do not really care about these images. The final image is of him returning and contains a final juxtaposition of pronouns (“he earns...they do not care”).
Poet and context
Duffy had known war photographer Don McCullin, upon whom this poem may have been based. Many iconic war photographs came out of conflicts of the seventies onwards, in particular the Vietnam War.
Content
Takes us through the process of a war photographer developing images he has brought back for a war zone. Alongside the actions we learn his thoughts, memories and feelings about the job he does and its implications in the wider world.
Mood/tone
Sombre, reflective, implied criticism of the callousness of people (from editor to consumer of these photos) through sarcasm.
Themes
Memory, trauma, conscience, responsibility, voyeurism, desensitization, horror of war, two worlds.
Form & Structure
Stanzas structure the poem, each having 6 lines and a rhyme scheme. Suggestive, perhaps, of the “ordered rows” of his photos – imposing order on chaos? The poem moves through the process from beginning to develop the images to their availability for readers of the “Sunday’s supplement”.
Language
Opening adverb “finally” sets a tone of relief. After the presumed chaos of his work, he is in a tranquil place (“ordered rows”) with much religious lexis (“church”, “priest”, “Mass”) both reinforcing this feeling of peace and reminding us of the moral dimension.
Juxtaposition of “spools of suffering” with the “ordered rows” , highlighted by the sibilance.
List of place names emphasises the universal nature of these events, followed by...
Religious allusion to Isiah “All flesh is grass” a stark reminder of inevitable death.
Simple declarative sentence opens 2nd stanza which is full of details of his trade, implying an excuse for what he is doing. “Solutions” however, may offer an ambiguity - chemical or human?
Juxtaposition is powerful in this stanza, between the safe comfort of home “Rural England...simple weather” and the horrors of life in other places: “nightmare heat”.
The 3rd stanza personalises the dilemma, using “a stranger....this man’s wife” and the photographer’s unease is becoming clearer ( lexis like “approval...do what someone must”)
The final stanza takes the situation out of the photographer’s hands and the focus switches to “his editor” “the reader”. Ambiguity this time of “black and white” – photographic terminology and has moral connotations.
Internal rhyme of “tears” and “beers” highlights the attitudes of people who look a t but do not really care about these images. The final image is of him returning and contains a final juxtaposition of pronouns (“he earns...they do not care”).
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