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War Photographer - Coggle Diagram
War Photographer
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Memory
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Senses are used to describe his memories- he remembers hearing "the cries/ of this man's wife" and seeing the "blood stained" in the dust. This makes them seem personal and vivid in his mind
The way that his hands "tremble suggests that remembering the scenes is difficult- the memories of conflict seem to affect him more deeply than the original events did.
Effects of Conflict
In the war zone, the photographer is able to keep a steady hand, but as he develops the photos, his hands "tremble", suggesting that he is deeply affected by the "hundred agonies" he has seen
His view of home is also affected by his experience of war- the "ordinary pain" of England contrasts starkly with that of "running children in a nightmare heat" in the war zone
The final stanza consider the reactions to conflict of people not involved in it. the emphatic "they do not care" implies that people have become so desensitised to suffering that it no longer affects them
Individual Experiences
The photographer is described as being "finally alone"- this could suggest that he needs space and quiet to reflect on his experience, but hints at his guilt about being able to escape the "suffering".
The empathetic closing remark of "they do not care" emphasises how different he feels from everyone else- the ambiguity surrounding who "they" are hints that he feels isolated from the rest of the world
His isolation in the war zone is highlighted by the fact that it's a "stranger's features" he photographs, and that he seeks approval "without words" from the man's wife. Although he records people's suffering, he doesn't share in it- this distances him from them
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About
A war photographer is in his darkroom, developing pictures that he's taken in war zones across the world. Being back in England is a big contrast- it's safe and calm compared to where he's been. A photo begins to develop, and the photographer remembers the death of the man, and the cries of his wife. The final stanza focuses on the people in England who will see his photographs in their Sunday papers. The speaker thinks that they don't really care about the people and places in the photographs.
Emotive language
The poem is full of powerful, emotive imagery which reflects the horrors of war seen by the photographer and captured in his photos. Like the photographer, Duffy tries to represent the true horror of conflict in her order to make the reader think about the subject
Religious imagery
The references to religion make it sound almost as if the photographer is a priest conducting a funeral when he's developing the photos- there's a sense of ceremony to his actions
Contrasts
The poem presents "Rural England" as a contrast to the war zones the photographer visits. The grieving widow is compared with people in England whose eyes only "prick/ with tears" at the pain. Ironically, the photographer is detached in the war zones but deeply affected at home
Duffy was intrigued by the challenge faced by war photographers whose job requires them to record horrific events without being able to help. Duffy asks us to consider our own response when confronted with the photographs that we regularly see in our newspapers, and why so many of us have become desensitised to these images.
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The ordered structure reflects the precision of his job which contrasts strongly with the chaos of his experiences.