GCSE Poetry- War Photographer
Being a War Photographer
Structure
Recap Points
Form
Pros
Cons
Spreading awareness
Removes people's privacy
Evidence
Get to see what happens at war
Aren't helping people just taking pictures
Making money off people's suffering
No personal space for people
In 1998, the Channel 4 programme 'Password', Duffy said that she wants to focus on the photographer and not their images- consideration of human psyche
Compares home/rural England
Duffy was friends with Don McCullin and Philip Jones Griffiths who were famous for their war photography
About how society fails to grasp the reality of war
Four stanzas with 6 lines- ABBCDDEFFGHH- reflect photographer's job as he tries to impose order on the chaos of war
Nothing changes- efforts are futile
Caesura shows how photographers need to separate themselves from war- "Rural England"
Cyclical structure- starts with him coming home from war and ends with him going back to war- shows pointlessness of job
Highlights how fragile life is- intertextual reference (Bible)
Comes home from a trip/work
Stanzas of equal length and regular rhyme scheme- organised and controlled echoing the care the photographer takes over his work
Enjambment- reflects the gradual revealing of the photograph as it develops
Distinct change at the start of the third stanza- remembers a specific death
Carol Ann Duffy
The poem is inspired by real wars in modern history and mentions several places that experienced war's destruction
To showcase the horrors of war and it's lasting effects
Friend who was a war photographer
First female British poet laureate and the first person from Scotland
Born in 1955
Follows the action and thoughts of the photographer in his darkroom
Final stanza focus shifts- highlights how the photographer's work is received
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Key Quotes
"Spools of suffering set out in ordered rows"
"Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh. All flesh is grass."
"The reader's eyeballs prick with tears between the bath and pre-lunch beers"
Quick Summary
A war photographer who struggles with his job/purpose. Realises people don't care
Key Themes
Effects of war/conflict
Reality of war/conflict
Power of nature
Loss/absence
Memory
Guilt
Fear
Individual experiences