comparing war photographer and remains

what themes do both poets explore?

the reality of war

the lasting phycological impact of war

both employ vivid and graphic language to make the reader unsettled and understand the horrors of war

remains - phycological impact of war and horrors of reality of war

‘tosses his guts back into his body’ ‘sort of inside out’ - informal language: matter of fact tone makes it more graphic and brutal description of the body -cause of soldiers trauma - he did this - explains why it has stuck in his mind - shocks the reader as it is deliberately horrifically violent and disturbing to show the reality of war

‘but I blink and he bursts again’ - repeated use of enjambment - re-enforces how he is unable to put an end to this memory - never ending psychological trauma

war photographer -phycological impact of war and horrors of reality of war

‘his hands which did not tremble then’ - verb ‘tremble’ - suggests his PTSD caused by what he witnessed - traumatised - the horror of war has remained with him

‘a hundred agonies in black and white’ - metaphor shows how his photos capture the horrors of war; ‘hundred’ emphasises the extent of the suffering - each "agony" represents a story of loss, violence, and devastation caused by war.

remains - perspective of a solder - dramatic monologue

‘the drink and the drugs wont flush him out’ - alliteration of plosives - emphasise the struggle to escape the effects of ptsd - he is unable to - personal experience and the psycological damage it causes - reader empathises as it is from the soldiers pov

‘his bloody life in my bloody hands’ - final line of poem emphasises his intense feelings of guilt - repetition ‘bloody’ - gives weight to his feelings of guilt - shows how he cant remove it - links to graphic images of looters body - short impact stanza shows the personal effect it has on him

war photographer - external perspective - giving him a moral purpose and responsibility

‘he a preist’ - metaphor of photograoher as a preist: emphasises his moral conscience - moral purpose to make the public aware of the suffering in war

‘the readers eyeballs prick with tears between bath and pre-lunch beers’ - verb ‘prick…tears’ shows how the pain they feel is little in comparison to the huge suffering of victims of war; ‘bath and beers’ suggests our lives are so comfortable we cannot understand

he is able to have a moral purpose of making the public aware of the suffering of civilians in war zones due to his job and outsider perspective